Monster 'Man'
by Aaron Ledgers
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a girl who could make anyone feel safe by merely looking at them... a girl with a smile so gentle that it could stir even the coldest hearts. However, she no longer exists... a fire destroyed her: in her place is an antisocial 'boy' who just transferred into Ouran High. Can the members of the Host Club get her to open up, or will her bitterness remain?
1. Prologue: Scarface

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC or any of the things originally within the story. **

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><p><strong>Monster 'Man'<strong>

Written by Aaron Ledgers  
>Dedicated to Saelind, the heroine of this tale<p>

This is very loosely based on a true story about my best friend: please be gentle, because some of the events you're about to read really happened.  
><strong>Aside from, you know, the part where Sael-chan meets the host club. Lmao.<strong>

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><p><span><strong>Prologue: Scarface!<strong>

Incomprehensible babbling... traffic... and the endless sound of shoes against the pavement: those three elements had become the center of her world.

Saelind irritably tried to stop glaring at the faces towering above her as she walked along the crowded streets, but all of the gawking stares were seriously getting under her skin. She didn't like being stared at by people, especially since she'd gone through so much trouble selecting her clothes to hide her body for that very reason. When a fat Asian man rudely shoved her aside without even bothering to apologize, however, the skinny girl twisted her body and tripped him without breaking stride. The man slowly got to his knees and turned to let out a snapping complaint, but Saelind merely turned her head and silently threatened him with a glare.

He froze like a mouse under a cat's claws; then he simply got up and hurried away.

Apparently, he was already aware that there was no point in complaining about a bruise to a person like her, which had saved Saelind some trouble.

The girl shook her head in disgust before withdrawing deeper into her hood, slowly lifting her arms and staring at the sleeves that hung off her hands in an almost ridiculous manner. A glimmer of her barely-visible aquamarine eye shifted through her dark hair as she stared at herself with hatred: she had gone through all the trouble of choosing her clothes to hide herself from everyone at her new school... but she had been horrified upon going inside.

It was a Private Academy... and not only that, but an Academy with a completely _horrible_ uniform selection.

She'd been told on her first day that instead of wearing some casual clothes like she'd been expecting, she would have to wear the standard girl's uniform, which was really nothing more than a dress with anciently-styled puffed sleeves... and to her utter disgust, it was the most _revolting_ shade of yellow she'd ever seen. She'd already lied to the school and told her superiors she couldn't afford it: they'd let her off easy, and told her that she could continue wearing her casual clothes until she could afford a proper uniform.

In truth, the outfit went hand in hand with all of the horrid frills that went along with being a 'cutesy' little Asian girl.

Unfortunately, she wasn't cute... nor was she Asian, or really anything like the girls in her new school: she didn't even have a Japanese heritage, since she was literally one-percent Korean and ninety-nine percent Russian all the way through. Back before the fire, she'd had extremely pale skin, rippling blue-green eyes, and somewhat pretty features: a typical teenage girl, really. In truth, she'd have looked like any other Caucasian female if it hadn't been for the shape of her eyes... they'd made her face look exceedingly exotic.

As a result of the unique way they'd slanted, her eyes had soothed other people no matter how she'd looked at them, angry or not.

That had been a long time ago, though... an unreachable past.

The New Saelind was a monster who horrified everyone she looked at: that's why she had hidden herself.

The day she'd transferred into Ouran High School, hushed murmurs had erupted down the hallways: however, unlike everyone around her, she had been wearing an enormously baggy green sweatshirt that ended just below her knees, and a pair of overly large blue jeans that crumpled near her ankles. Despite her absurdly tiny physique, her hood had been pulled so far over her head that nobody had been able to see her face clearly.

Then, much to her dismay, a girl had walked up to Saelind with a friendly smile and set a hand on her shoulder.

And, like she always did whenever someone touched her, she'd hissed like a snake and slapped the girl's hand away with all of her strength.

Then she had lifted her head, looked right at the offending Asian girl, and practically spat the words she'd wanted everyone hear.

"Don't touch me," she'd hissed, glaring into the girl's eyes. "Ever. I swear to god I'll bite your fingers off if you put your hands on me again!"

And with that, she had grumpily shoved past the offender and continued on her way. Dead silence had immediately reigned free, since a terrified 'popular' girl had been left in her wake. She'd slowly sank down to her knees and hugged herself with shaking arms. When her friends came rushing over and fretted over her bruising hand, she didn't even notice: her brown eyes had gone blank with horror.

"His face!" she'd whispered, slowly bringing her hands up and shakily covering her mouth. "His face... it's gone! He's a _monster!"_

And that is how, in all honesty, Saelind's odd reputation as the 'Monster Man' had been born.

Which pissed her off in two ways, since everyone had apparently mistaken her as a boy: she wasn't pretty, but she sure as hell wasn't _that_ ugly!

When she finally stopped in front of her empty apartment, the shadowed teenager struggled to move her legs in order to head inside.

However, she couldn't seem to make her feet budge: she was reluctant to go into the empty void that claimed her hours after school, because her home merely made her realize that much further how alone she was... made her realize that there would never be anybody waiting for her. As she stood there in front of her apartment door, struggling to move, a woman with reddish brown hair noticed her rigid posture and stopped on her way into the extravagant building just next door.

For several moments, she merely stared at Saelind.

"Did you get locked out?" the woman finally called in a shockingly manly voice, making Saelind jump and whirl to face her. "If you did, you're welcome to stay at my place until your parents get back... after all, we neighbors have to be courteous to each other, right?"

Saelind opened her mouth to snap at her, to tell her not to butt in, but the woman was already grabbing her hand and dragging her away.

This was the biggest reason why she hated being so small: anybody could manhandle her and she was helpless to do anything. The woman pulled her up a flight of stairs and gently unlocked the door to her old-fashioned Japanese suite before pulling the hooded girl inside and closing it; Saelind merely stood there with her head lowered and her fists clenched, muscles shaking with barely concealed anger. Apparently, the woman mistook her rage at being manhandled for fear, since she glanced at her quivering body and covered her mouth in a motherly manner.

"Don't worry," the woman drawled in a manly tone, patting her head without noticing how she recoiled away. "I'm sure your parents will come home soon."

When she pattered off into another room and sat down, Saelind merely stood where she was, mouth twisting up in hatred.

"Parents?" she inaudibly sneered, feeling the urge to break something. "Good one."

She instantly shook her head and wiped her stinging eyes: she didn't even want to _start_ thinking about that; she didn't want to remember why she'd ended up living all alone in a dingy one-room apartment halfway around the world. She didn't want to remember why she'd been sent to live alone in a foreign country by herself. However, her reality was impossible to hide from: the reason for this change had been permanently etched onto her face.

Her father had walked out on their family after the accident had destroyed her looks, and her mother had purposely sent her away.

After a moment of standing in the middle of the stranger's entryway, calming down her anger, Saelind slowly moved forward until she'd made it to the nearest chair: the woman had already flopped down on the couch and flicked on the enormous flat screen. She was currently watching a soap opera with a fairly bored expression. After a moment, however, Saelind narrowed her eye and looked closer when she noticed a gray area on the woman's chin.

_Facial hair? _she abruptly wondered, blinking in confusion when the woman scratched her chin with a yawn. _No way... I'm seeing things._

However, for the first time in a long while, the girl very nearly jumped out of her own skin since the woman actually pulled her hair off with a sigh.

"_Holy sh_—!" She squeaked, flinching backwards in shock. "I… I-I… um, I'm, uh...! I'm, uh—!"

"Yeah, I know," the drag-queen sighed nonchalantly, rubbing a cloth over his make-up dabbed eyes with a sigh. "I get those reactions a lot."

Saelind chose not to make a comment, since she was sure the words that came out of her mouth would have been less than pleasant.

However, when she sat down and shrugged her backpack off, he... she... _it_ glanced at her, so she purposely lowered her head.

For several moments, she sorted out the schoolwork she'd ignored in class... but then she flipped open her textbook and started working on it.

Ever since the accident, she'd been having issues with not being able to concentrate around other people, so she'd come up with an ingenious strategy to get out of doing her work in school: she would simply daydream until class was over, then walk up to the teacher and ask him or her for everything she needed to complete the work outside of school. As a result, she'd gotten past her issues with socializing and getting called on in class.

"Is that a calculus worksheet?" the drag queen suddenly asked, taking note of her high school textbooks with raised eyebrows. "Wait... how old _are_ you?"

For a long moment, the girl's fingers froze: there was a lengthy pause for several minutes afterwards, broken only by the sound of the television.

"I'm Fifteen," Saelind finally muttered, scowling at the sound of her own high-pitched voice. "I'll be sixteen in two months."

"You're the same age as my daughter!" the man gasped, eyes lighting up in surprise. "That's kind of shocking, though... when I first saw you, I actually thought you were in elementary school because of how small you were! That's why I got nervous and brought you in here... this isn't exactly the safest neighborhood in the world, so I apologize if I upset you or made you feel uncomfortable. It's a mother thing, you know?"

"No," the girl bluntly retorted, sliding the sleeve covering her right hand up and revealing her small white fingers, "so I won't pretend that I do. And anyway, only _women_ can be mothers."

Her response elicited a startled silence from the man.

"Well, if you say so," he finally sighed, flopping back down with a sigh. "Haru-chan is probably going to come home around dinner time."

Saelind, however, was too busy scrawling down the answers to her math problems to care.

She was getting her work done at an abnormally rapid pace since everything she'd been given was absurdly easy. The girl had personally asked her teacher for an advanced form of math since he'd been teaching things that were already well beneath her level of skill. Her instructor had looked highly offended when Saelind had calmly informed him that he was teaching stuff that kindergarteners could figure out, but it was the truth: the differences in Japanese schools and Russian schools were incredibly vast.

All of the stuff her new Japanese high school was 'teaching' would have been considered Elementary back in Moscow.

Her level of study was already college level in Japan since the educational expectation was a _lot_ lower there than it was in Russia.

Everything that Saelind had been taught back home was something that everybody had to know in order to survive: it was common knowledge. However, in Japan, her intelligence was extremely advanced compared to the people around her as a result of the different cultures. On top of that, she had no language barrier since she'd been raised in a family that constantly spoke in English, Russian, _and_ Japanese: to put it simply, she already felt as though she were surrounded by a bunch of idiots.

"Hmm... not good," the drag queen suddenly muttered, lifting a finger and tapping his chin. "I forgot that Haruhi has a job to do with that club of hers, so she won't be back until much later. I wonder what I should order for dinner tonight? Chicken wings or pizza?"

Saelind's hand froze and she instantly grimaced in disgust.

"Neither is healthy for you," the girl muttered without thinking; however, she winced at her own stupidity when the man blinked at her. "What? It's true: the companies who run those types of restaurants load their food with ingredients that aren't good for the body. Some companies even add a highly addictive chemical that can cause a minor withdrawal... it's a chemical that makes your body crave their food."

"EH?! No way!" the man squealed, sitting up with a startled expression. "Are you serious?! Why have I never heard about that?!"

"How the hell should I know? It's common knowledge all over the world," Saelind sourly explained, lifting her head and regarding him with a half-hidden teal eye. "Ordering take out can even lead to health problems in the long run, depending on how much you eat. Once in a very long while is all right, I guess, since it'd be like going to a fancy store or eating unhealthy cakes... but doing it consistently isn't healthy for you at all."

"I never knew that! What should I do, then?!" the man asked, covering his mouth in horror; Saelind frowned at him, wondering if the man was really a parent like he'd claimed. He was acting more like a woman himself than a grown man, which was extremely weird to her. "My daughter loves pizza and take-out chicken wings, and I don't know how to cook! The last time I tried, I almost burned this apartment down!"

The drag queen looked at Saelind as though he expected her to have the answer.

"Learn how to cook," the girl suggested coldly, lowering her eyes down to her paper and finishing the last three problems. "That's all I can say."

"I can't do that in one night!" the man wailed, falling over and kicking his legs in horror. "I'd be a failure as a parent if I let my daughter eat food with _drugs_ in it, so what the heck can I do?! I don't know how to cook! Ahhhh! What am I gonna do about dinner tonight?!"

"Shut up already," Saelind finally hissed, snapping her book shut and ignoring how the man gawked at her in offense. "If it bothers you that much, I'll make something edible for you two to eat. It's really not that difficult, so please stop whining like a baby and act your age. Aren't you an adult?"

For several moments, the man's mouth hung open and he looked thunderstruck by her insulting demand.

"Thank you for the offer to make dinner tonight... I'll gladly accept it," the drag queen muttered, frowning at her in obvious offense. "However, that statement you just made was completely out of line. I'm going to inform your parents about it the moment they get home. That reminds me... when _are_ your parents getting home? I was so excited when I heard that a new family was moving in next door that I didn't sleep at all last night! I was kind of hoping to make friends with them."

Saelind froze where she was sitting and slowly seemed to turn to marble.

"Sorry to burst your bubble," the girl chuckled darkly, not lifting her head from her papers, "but those hopes of yours were meaningless. I don't _have_ parents, so the friends you were so eager to meet are never going to come. Not like it would matter even if they did... people like that are worthless."

With that, she stood up and shouldered her bag before heading for the doorway, leaving behind a gaping Asian man with stunned brown eyes.

"W-where are you going?" he demanded, looking at her with an uneasy expression.

"My apartment... and the store," the girl retorted, pausing with her hand on the knob. "I'm going to grab everything I need to make a proper meal since I don't feel comfortable using your belongings. Then I'm going to get all of the ingredients required to make a proper meal. End of story."

With that, she opened the door and stalked outside, wondering why she was bothering with such an annoying and creepy person in the first place.

Her first day as a freshman had been pretty uneventful aside from getting slapped across the face by a girly Asian boy, but the random students who had tried to become chummy with her had been properly warned away. She didn't want any false friends like the ones she'd had back in Russia... she had been popular all through junior high simply because she was pretty and rich. That was all: they'd never liked her for the kindness she'd shown.

However, Saelind hadn't cared about her appearance: in fact, most of the time, she'd been kind of oblivious to her looks.

The most she'd ever really done was brush her hair, and that was for reasons that she didn't really want to think about.

Even now, she didn't care... nor did she care about what people thought of the scars on her face. Aside from her burns, the color of her eyes, and her hair, everything about her was ordinary: her height didn't want to extend over the five-foot mark, so she was currently stuck being four feet and six inches tall. Her hair was the only interesting thing she had to offer in the way of appearances now... but she saw no point in showing it off since she didn't really like people.

And yes, that also included _male_ people: forget trying to find a boyfriend... in a school like hers, no decent guy would ever be hanging around since everyone was totally spoiled. She hated the fact that their lives were so easy, but even more than that, she hated that they took it for granted... as if it was their _right_ to be living in luxury.

It made her want to vomit.

After heading into the grocery store and grabbing everything she needed, the hooded girl stalked through the crowded sidewalks and went into her apartment for a skillet: the only items she personally owned were cooking-related, which was kind of a downer, but at the same time... she didn't care, since she didn't plan on staying after she graduated.

Once that was finished, she went next door and knocked on the entrance to drag queen's home.

"Come in!" he trilled in a singsong voice, making her wince. "I know it's you, kiddo!"

Saelind merely wrinkled her nose and opened the door before carefully bringing everything in.

She ignored the girly man's mesmerized stare in favor of bringing the bags into his kitchen and unloading them.

"When do you think your daughter will be home?" the small girl demanded, not turning around. "I need a time frame in order to start this."

"She'll be back around seven tonight," the man explained, blinking in surprise. "I think it's time we introduce ourselves, though... my name is Ryoji Fujioka, but you can call me Ranka since I don't like being addressed with my given name! It makes me feel like an old man! What's your name?"

"Saelind Heseroph," the skinny girl curtly retorted, already turning the stove on and oiling the skillet. "This should take about an hour to make properly, so it should be done by the time your daughter gets home. After that, I'm going home."

"Aw... aren't you going to stay for dinner?" Ranka asked, frowning at the girl when her muscles tensed. "Come on, I'd feel bad if you didn't."

"Fine," she muttered, mouth pressing into a flat line. "In return, don't ever bother me again. Please."

Another long silence ensued after her alarmingly cold statement.

The drag queen merely stared at her hooded back with furrowed brows, but Saelind was so lost in what she was doing that she didn't even notice when he left the room and flopped back down on the couch. The pale girl cooked and sauteed everything the way she'd been taught in order to make her father's famous stir fry turn out right, and by the time it hit six fifty eight, it was ready. When she walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the floor in the corner of Ranka's old-style living room, he blinked at her and got up, puttering off into the kitchen.

However, a disturbingly high-pitched shriek immediately split the air, making the girl jump.

"WOW!" Ranka shrieked, tearing out into the living room with stunned eyes. "Did you really make all that?!"

"Yes," Saelind curtly retorted, not lifting her head from her knees. "It's a simple dish, though... there's no need to get so worked up."

"Are you kidding?!" the man exclaimed, running back into the kitchen with a cry of delight. "Even with Haruhi's delicious cooking, the last time the two of us had a meal like this was ten years ago at a fancy dinner party! This is anything but simple, and on top of that it looks absolutely delicious! Where on earth did you learn how to make it?!"

Saelind didn't answer: she saw no point in disclosing anything about her father's culinary skills.

Or even the fact that her father was a famous chef who often appeared on television.

She sat in the corner for about ten minutes, listening to the sound of clanking dishes and silverware coming from the dining room nearby; however, she flinched when the man unexpectedly appeared out of nowhere and tapped her arm, letting out a serpentine hiss. Ranka immediately drew back and stared at her with a startled expression since seeing a teenage girl hiss like an animal was extremely uncommon.

"Don't touch me," Saelind hissed, speaking in an extremely low voice. "I don't like being touched... ever."

"Well, if you say so," the drag queen mumbled, staring at her with a wary expression. "I was only going to tell you that the table is ready."

"Then say so without touching me," she muttered, getting to her feet with an irritated posture; the man followed her path with his eyes, looking somewhat disturbed and confused by her personality. After a moment, he followed her into the dining room and watched as she gripped the plate he'd set and switched it over to the farthest edge of the table: he furrowed her brows when she folded his hands and murmured, "_Svelod ishlamari._"

"What did you just say?" Ranka asked, taking a seat as well and watching as she popped a mouthful of food into her hood. "I didn't understand it."

"It was Russian," Saelind absently explained, speaking in a monotonous deadpan. "It's an honorary way of giving thanks. It's similar to the custom that people here in Japan have... you know, how they say a little thanks before they eat? You could say it's our version of that."

"Oh, so you're from Russia?" Ranka asked, winding some of the stir-fry around his fork before popping it into his mouth; the man's eyes instantly went blank since an explosion of delicious flavor rocketed into his nerves. For the first time in his entire life, Ranka almost broke down and cried after having one taste of food: it was so shocking to him that he didn't even know what to do. "Dear Lord... this is... wow! It's amazing!"

Saelind merely ate in silence, refusing to acknowledge his enthusiasm.

She had always been like this, though, even at her previous school. In class, the teachers had never called on her: they'd acted as though they couldn't see her. At lunch, she'd practically vanished from the world after slipping into the hallways: nobody ever really paid attention to her unless a new rumor had spread. After school, she'd always sat on the steps out front, waiting for someone... anyone... to come rescue her.

Rumors upon rumors had flooded around the longer she'd stayed at her last school, ensnaring her...

_**"Oh, my God! Carlisle, look at her face! I can't tutor that child!"**_

Tormenting her...

_**"She's a freak, so don't hang out with her during lunch: I heard from Maria that her face is all messed up because she tried to burn some guy to death with a tank of gasoline! Stay away from the burned girl unless you want her to go psycho on you!"**_

Twisting her...

_**"Why does that girl even go to class? She never talks, she never moves, she just sits there and stares at her textbook cover for hours without moving a muscle. It's actually very disturbing, and several of her classmates have already complained that they can't focus when she's in the room. Can't we put a cubicle in the corner so the other students can study better?"**_

And breaking her.

Even though she'd done her best to fade away into the shadows, the few who noticed were never nice: she had been perpetually branded as an outcast.

This hadn't always been the case, though... shockingly enough, there had once been a time when Saelind had been the most loving and tender-hearted girl for miles around. A long time ago, her former self had given her things to people more in need of them... she had been recklessly kind and had always believed that, when the time came, someone would be there... anyone.

But no one had come.

In her darkest hour, not a single person came to help her... and the kindness in her heart shattered with the cold reality that she was alone. A reality that came with pain that had etched itself so deep into her subconscious that no amount of love could ever heal it. Because that time had been crucial: she had finally stretched out her hands for someone, anyone, to help her the way she'd done for them... but what she'd gotten instead was an unending chain of cruelty. Unlike the physical injuries she'd sustained, these had come after the burns had been inflicted on her.

She'd loved them, trusted them, did everything she could to help them, and in the end... she was trash. Filth.

Nothing.

Once Saelind had realized that she was completely alone, the darkness that filled her soul was so black that it had nearly crushed her. She'd felt as though she hadn't been able to breathe... as though she'd fallen beneath an ocean of shadows... and her kind expression had gone dark. Had stayed dark, even when months began to pass and people once again started needing her help and comfort.

However, the girl they'd been looking for had been destroyed.

They had come, one after the other, only to find not the loving girl that had always been there to make people feel better... but a frigid young woman who's undamaged eye was so cold that her glare shot clean down into the soul. She had been left alone in the dark... alone, unloved, harassed... and because of it, her heart had shattered like a mirror in the face of the world's hate.

During the time when everyone had turned their backs on her, Saelind had forced herself to become empty... she had become a living doll in order to endure the pain of being alone... but there had been no escaping. The darkness had never truly faded: it had merely filled the emptiness she'd created, eating at the pieces of her heart from the inside. It had turned her so bitter and angry that she now wanted to loathe the world instead of love it.

And so, she had returned the feelings of suffering that had been inflicted upon her by doing the same thing to everyone who'd needed her.

She had left all of the people who'd truly needed help to face their agonies alone.

After all, Karma was the biggest bitch in the world... although, Saelind was well on her way to catching up to it.

The girl was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the front door opening.

"Dad? I'm home... Tamaki-senpai threw an entire dance for the girls at the Host Club on top of the normal activities, so that's why I'm a bit late," a tired voice called, letting out a groan before the footsteps paused. "Hey, something smells really good! Did you order fancy food? Oh, never mind... you won't believe what happened at school today, though! Some new kid smacked Renge, and I ended up getting detention for slapping him back! Can you believe that?! The jerk smacked a girl and got off free!"

"Really?!" Ranka called, eyes widening in surprise; Saelind finished the last bit of her food and set her fork down just as a girlish boy with glossy brown hair walked into the dining room. He was wearing the standard navy school blazer for boys, as well as a red tie, and a pair of black school slacks. He had slender legs, large honey-brown eyes, and flawless skin.

"Yeah, really!" the boy sighed, hanging his coat on the rack without even glancing at the table. "He was really rude. Anyway, what's for dinner?"

"Oh, it's absolutely delicious!" the drag queen gushed, popping another bite into his mouth. "Our new neighbor made it for us!"

"Eh? What new neighbor?" the brunette asked, turning and glancing at the effeminate male for the first time; however, when his eyes flicked past his father and he noticed the figure in the green hoodie sitting at the end of the table, he gasped and dropped his bag. "No way... what's he doing here?!"

"What do you mean, Haruhi?" Ranka asked, frowning at him in confusion. "He's our new neighbor."

"seriously?" Haruhi snorted, lifting his arm and pointing with half-lidded eyes. "Um, Dad? This kid is the same one I slapped. You sure he isn't a stalker?"

Saelind immediately stood up and slammed her fork down.

"Sorry, but who would even _want_ to stalk someone like _you?"_ the tiny girl hissed, lifting her head and glaring with a barely visible teal eye from within her shadowy hood. "I don't even want to be here, so I'm going home now. Enjoy your dinner... and please, tell this transvestite to leave me alone from now on."

With that, she swept towards their front door and left the room, not even noticing how Ranka glared at Haruhi.

"What got into him?" Haruhi wondered, blinking in confusion. "I was only kidding about the stalker thing."

"That wasn't very nice," the man stated in a soft tone, giving the brunette a reproachful glare. "He spent an hour doing this for us, you know..."

"So what?" Haruhi deadpanned, looking at her father with a disbelieving expression. "Like I said, I was only joking."

"He didn't see it that way, so I want you to apologize first thing tomorrow morning, young lady," the man retorted, making Haruhi turn pale. "Also... walk with him to school."

"Okay, fine," the girl-in-disguise sighed, looking totally baffled. "If you think I should, I will... but really. I wasn't serious."

"Once again: he obviously thought you were," Ranka firmly explained, getting up and bringing his plate into the kitchen. "Now... go to your room. What you just did was wrong."

"Yes, sir..." Haruhi mumbled, heading down the tiny hall and throwing her door open. "Wow... last time I got in trouble like this was... twelve years ago?"

However, when she sat down at her desk and started reaching for her lamp to turn it on, she noticed something strange about the window that had always been not even a meter away from her own. Because the buildings in her neighborhood were so close together, it wasn't all that shocking to find windows on opposite buildings facing each other.

In fact, a lot of people would sometimes open their windows and have conversations with each other.

The window across from her own had been dark for as long as she could remember, but now... a light was shining in another room. However, her eyes widened in horror and she ducked down when the hooded boy from earlier walked into the room: his shoulders were sagging and he looked completely worn out... but for the first time that day, he took his hood off. And the girl stared, not comprehending what she was really seeing.

From behind, all she could see of his head was a bulge of shiny black stuff.

Then he lifted his arms and took off his hoodie... and Haruhi's eyes widened in shock: the moment he pulled his baggy shirt off, his Jet black hair immediately slid down around shoulders and tumbled down to his thighs like a rippling waterfall. Tendrils of his beautiful hair slid against his pale skin as he moved over to the wall and slipped his shirt onto a coat rack. Then he almost reluctantly pulled a brand-new blazer out of a box and stared at it.

Haruhi watched with uneasy eyes: he was shirtless, but that had only revealed to her how small the kid really was.

He was abnormally slender... and on top of that, his proportions seemed to be a little underdeveloped: he looked younger than fifteen.

However, when he turned around and pressed his blazer against his chest before setting it down, the girl twitched since she saw 'his' chest.

Apparently, the new kid wasn't exactly a boy like everyone thought because 'he' was wearing a bra.

However, then she caught sight of Saelind's face.

And froze.

The way her bangs had been styled did a damn good job of hiding it, but the new girl's face was covered in burn scars. And in truth, right then, Haruhi didn't even realize just how bad they were until the girl shifted her hair to the side and started brushing it. The entire left half of her body had been covered with this same scarred flesh: there wasn't an inch of her on that side that had been left unaffected.

Even her hand and arm had been burned.

"Oh, my god..." Haruhi whispered, slowly sliding down and pressing her back against the window sill. "What the heck happened to that girl?!"

However, because of the moment she'd chosen to turn away, Haruhi didn't see how Saelind stepped over to the corner and slid to the ground.

She didn't see it when she buried her face in her knees and curled up into a little ball.

She didn't see any of it.

And sadly, she didn't even want to.

Her life was hectic enough at school with the host club... but now, she had a feeling that her home life was about to get just as difficult.

"What a way to start a new week of school," Haruhi muttered, head thumping against the wall. "Yay."


	2. Chapter 1: The Lion and the Lamb

**Chapter One: The Lion and the Lamb  
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The next morning, Haruhi ended up waiting for the new girl outside of her apartment door. She didn't want to do it, honestly: just the thought of hanging around with someone who might add more drama to her life made her feel tired, and plus, the girl was kind of mean. However, she didn't want to go alone and have her father find out about it, especially since he'd already taken Saelind's side for some strange reason.

So, here she was: pointedly waiting for the girl to wake up so they could leave together.

"How long has it been since I've walked with someone else?" Haruhi quietly mused. "Since middle school, at least."

It was true: it had been a very long time since Haruhi had walked to school with someone else, especially another girl, so she wasn't entirely sure what to do anymore. After glancing at the sky and judging the time by the light on the horizon, she realized it was almost six and lowered her eyes so they were hidden behind her glossy brown bangs.

"Why hasn't she come out yet?" she muttered, hopping from foot to foot. "If she sleeps any longer, I'll be late and Kyouya-sempai will add onto my debt! Is she even awake?"

Haruhi was unsatisfied by the chirping of a bird as an answer to that question. So, against her better judgement, she hurried down the stairs and ran back up into her own apartment before tearing across the tatami mats towards her bedroom. Then she grabbed the broom off the wall, opened her window, and stretched the handle across the gap: after several difficult attempts, she managed to open the sliding window in Saelind's apartment.

Her golden-brown eyes instantly lit up with triumph.

_All right, _she thought to herself, blinking a few times as she hefted her bag, _now all I need to do is hop over. _

With that, she climbed onto the ledge of her window and jumped, easily sailing into the girl's apartment. After that, she dusted herself off and walked over to the front door, grimacing in disgust at how rundown the building was compared to her own: it was pretty unbelievable how one building could differ from the next, but hey... that was Japan for you.

Something caught her eye as she was passing by the bathroom.

On the floor was a magazine for hairstyles, and it had been opened to a specific page.

The girl instantly succumbed to temptation and picked it up, but she had to muffle a fit of laughter when she saw the main headline: '_square-cut bangs will give off a more gentle expression than the side sweep, which gives off an aura of loneliness. For any emo girl, the fluffy bangs are a no-go.'_

"Seriously?" Haruhi mused, snorting a little before she set the magazine back down. "I guess she _would_ be emo... I know _I_ would be if I had scars like that."

"I'm not emo, thank you very much," a quiet voice hissed, making her freeze like a statue. "I simply don't enjoy socializing."

Shivering, the Asian brunette slowly turned around and twitched when she saw Saelind wearing the green hoodie from the previous afternoon. However, the girl's bangs had been greatly altered compared to the previous evening: she'd parted her hair in such a unique manner that the right side of her face had been left completely exposed, while the left side was hidden by the sweep of her hair. The girl's hair had somehow been looped under her left ear and tied in place to keep it from moving.

Even as Haruhi watched, the smaller girl pulled her hood up and her face practically vanished from sight.

It was an ingeniously fashionable way of keeping the visibility on her scars to a minimum.

However, Haruhi was still frozen: Saelind's slanted right eye was glaring blue-green daggers that cut right into her heart.

"Good morning to you, too," Haruhi deadpanned, keeping her expression blank. "We're going to be late if you don't hurry up."

"Get out of my home," the smaller girl stated coldly, not taking her eye off the brunette. "I never gave you permission to come in here. Leave."

"Sorry, but I can't," the taller girl bluntly retorted, giving an airy shrug. "Personally, I wouldn't have set foot in here if I'd had a choice, but my father is kind of pushy. Basically, he's forcing me to walk with you to school today: I'll get in trouble if I don't, so... here I am."

Saelind didn't respond, but her slanted eye did narrow a bit.

After a moment, however, she moved forward and slid around the brunette without speaking another word, calmly grabbing her bag and heading for the door. Haruhi sighed when she opened it and walked out, but she hefted her own bag and followed her, purposely keeping a careful distance.

_She's really, really small, _Haruhi noted, observing Saelind's frail build with unnerved eyes. _Even smaller than Honey-senpai.  
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The two of them walked in silence for a long time, keeping a careful distance of fifteen feet between each other.

However, when a group of boys ran past Haruhi and practically trampled Saelind in their haste to get to school, one of them stopped and turned around to help her up. However, instead... he froze, because the girl's hood had been jerked off and her looping bangs had come loose as a result of his actions.

"Holy shit!" the boy cried, jerking his hand back with a disgusted expression. "What the heck is wrong with your face?! Nasty!"

"I suggest you get away from me," the black-haired girl retorted, getting to her feet and dusting off her jeans. "The only nasty person here is the one doing the finger-pointing."

"Excuse me?" the large boy snarled, clenching his fists; Haruhi froze, since the black-haired girl had literally just picked a fight with the most dangerous person in school: Genji Momozono, the son of a filthy rich mafia lord. "Take your diseased ass home, you little bitch!"

"In Russia, we speak with our actions," Saelind calmly retorted, fastening her hair back in place and pulling her hood up once again; then her aquamarine eye narrowed in a serious manner and she glared at the sleazy-looking boy. "If you intend to simply bark like a dog, this conversation is over: you don't deserve to call yourself a man if you can't do anything but spew insults at someone you don't even know."

"Are you picking a fight?" Genji demanded, narrowing his eyes and swaggering up with his chest puffed out. "Well, pipsqueak?"

"If the shoe fits," the black-haired girl retorted, sliding her foot back a little and bending her knees ever so slightly. "I'm warning you, though: size doesn't matter in a fight, and should you choose to pick one, I _will not_ hold back."

Normally, nobody would have noticed the shift in the small girl's posture... but since Haruhi was watching her closely, she could see the almost graceful way her slender body had twisted. It was in that moment that she realized Saelind was serious.

"Hey, calm down!" she called, covering her mouth in horror. "Don't fight! It's against school rules!"

Her command went ignored; in fact, they didn't even seem to hear her.

"All right," Genji stated, nodding with a casual demeanor. "Well, little brat, you asked for it."

Then, completely going against his calm expression, he let out a cocky snarl and swung his fist without warning.

And just like that, Saelind slid under his arm like living water before gripping his wrist and jabbing his forearm seven times in a row; then she twisted it to the right and let him go, whirling away and sliding her foot back with her hands held out. Her face was completely calm, but Genji instantly let out a startled shout and cradled his twitching arm with a bright-red face. When he let it go, it dangled limply and his green eyes widened with horror.

"Freak!" the boy snapped, neck tensing up in fright. "What the hell did you just do to my arm?!"

"Muscle paralysis," the tiny girl explained, teal eye becoming colder than a shard of ice. "It's not permanent, but the effects will last all day and possibly tomorrow. Now, if you're through acting like a dog, I have classes to attend. Are you finished?"

"Screw you!" Genji roared, gripping his bag and bolting past his gawking buddies. "I won't let you get away with this!"

"All bark and no bite," Saelind muttered, slowly taking on a normal posture and dusting herself off a second time. "Typical testosterone-filled idiot."

After a moment, she properly adjusted her hood and hefted her school bag before continuing on her way.

Haruhi uncovered her mouth, heart thumping violently as she watched the dark-haired girl head toward the gates to their school.

"What in the world?!" she whispered quietly, hastening towards the front doors. "That was crazy..."

However, when she walked into the school entrance hallway, a shocking sight met her eyes. It quickly caused her heart to flip, since Saelind was currently lying on top of a small blonde boy who was struggling to get off the floor: he was already starting to cry from a skinned palm.

"Waaaaah!" the blonde boy bawled. "Takeshi! Takeshi!"

Haruhi paled when a dark blur came roaring past her from behind.

"Uh-oh," she whispered, jumping with enormous eyes; she instantly flung her arm out. "Mori-sempai! Don't!"

It was too late: the trigger had been pulled.

While Saelind was struggling to get off the ground, she didn't notice how everyone around her backed off.

"Ow!" she croaked, rolling her sleeve up and looking at her scraped arm. "Jeez, kid! You hit me hard! Are you okay?"

Before the blonde could respond, however, someone ripped the girl's hood off and grabbed her long hair. Saelind squeaked like a mouse and flailed around when her assailant jerked her upright by her hair and spun her around. However, her visible eye widened only a split second before whoever was attacking nailed her in the jaw: she was hit with such a powerful blow to the face that she was knocked clean off her feet and into the air. Saelind squeaked a second time when she hit the tile and slid all the way into the lockers.

"You made Mitsukuni cry," a deep voice growled, vibrating her ringing ears. "Your turn."

"T-Takeshi! Wait!" the blonde boy unexpectedly wailed, making whoever just hit her pause; when Saelind's head stopped spinning enough for her to sit up a little, she realized that he looked positively horrified. "It w-w-was my fault, Takeshi! I was running and I didn't see him, so we kind of crashed into each other and fell on the floor! It wasn't his fault, it was mine! But it... it still hurt!"

The boy who'd just punched her glanced at his fist with a startled expression; then he froze and looked at Saelind in horror.

He instantly started making a choking sound and waved his arms, struggling to say something that made no sense.

"Hey, are you okay?!" Honey called, looking at the dazed black-haired girl. "I'm sorry! And Takeshi is sorry, too!"

The taller boy instantly bowed, head lowered and fists clenched.

However, Saelind's head was still ringing, and she was trying to figure out why so many things were going wrong.

She had done nothing more than turn around a corner at the wrong time.

"Don't apologize! That guy is the same creep who smacked my hand!" Renge suddenly snapped, stomping over and folding her arms; when Mori paused and looked up, she turned her frigid brown eyes on the black-haired girl, who was shakily crawling to her feet and rubbing her jaw with no expression whatsoever. "He's a jerk!"

"Quit talking about me like you _know_ me!" the black-haired girl shrieked, finally losing her cool; everyone fell silent and wealthy students stared at her all over the place. "You know nothing about me, so just shut _up!_ Go have fun with your peppy little friends already! I want to be left alone! Is that so much to ask for?! If it's not, then _do_ it! _Leave_ me _alone!"_

And with that, she whirled around and bolted down the hall at top speed, pulling her hood up as she went.

"What a weirdo," Yuri, a girl who frequently visited the Host Club, muttered. "I hope we're not in the same class as him."

"Isn't he the creepy kid who transferred here yesterday?" a boy standing down the hall asked. "He didn't move for an entire hour in math class... it was really, really weird: if you weren't looking closely, it was hard to tell whether or not he was even breathing."

"Ew..." a feminine brunette muttered. "You mean like a creepy old manikin?"

"Yeah," the boy explained. "He really did look like a living doll... it was freaky."

More whispers began to erupt when Honey stood up and hid his scraped hand behind his back.

However, Mori had been frozen in place and he didn't even hear the whispers and gossip that had risen around them.

He couldn't comprehend anything but the look in Saelind's eye when her mask had broken off for a few seconds.

_Quit talking about me like you know me!_ _You know nothing about me! Leave me alone!_

That look... it hadn't been anger... it had been something he didn't understand.

Something... raw.

"Pain," Haruhi suddenly mumbled, making him lower his eyes to her face in confusion. "Saelind... was in pain..."

"Haru-chan!" Honey pouted, glancing up at her with a frown. "Takeshi hit him so hard that he flew off his feet! Of _course_ he was hurting!"

"That's not what I mean," Haruhu sighed, rolling her eyes as they headed for their first class. After that, Honey started babbling about some random thing concerning a new cake shop until Haruhi walked into her classroom and they went separate ways; however, Haruhi halted and gawked in total disbelief when she saw a familiar green-clad figure sitting in the farthest desk in the back. "Oh, well _this_ is just perfect."

Before she could blink, two mischievous redheads decided to slink up with identical expressions of amusement on their faces.

"Ehhh?" Kaoru asked, looking at her with a mild expression. "What is?"

"The perfect thing, we mean," Hikaru added. "Would you mind..."

"...sharing with us?" Kaoru finished.

"Looks like the new kid is in our class," the brunette muttered, rubbing her eyes in dismay. "I was in detention all day yesterday because of what I did, so I didn't exactly get the memo that Saelind was actually one of our classmates."

"Oh, him?" Kaoru muttered, looking at the dark-haired girl with a perplexed frown. "He's not all that bad."

"Just really quiet," Hikaru sighed, giving a little shrug.

"I actually feel kind of bad about what happened..." Haruhi mumbled, shaking her head as she took her seat. "I... overreacted, really: I thought he was bullying a few of the girls from our class. I mean, the whole school hates him now because of what happened."

"With good reason, too," Renge snapped, sitting down at her desk and peering back at the pale girl; she was staring outside and gazing up at the sky without moving, looking for all the world like a living statue. However, her teal eye was just visible, but from what Haruhi could see... it seemed kind of spacy and almost gentle as her gaze flitted across the slowly-moving clouds. "See? He's a total space-case weirdo."

"If it weren't for his attitude, I think he'd be kind of cute," another girl hesitantly mumbled, giving the obnoxiously loud manager a sideways glance; then she noticed how much Haruhi and the twins were staring at her. "W-what? Don't you think so? His looks really aren't that bad."

"As if," Hikaru snorted, rolling his eyes and sharing a look with his twin. "You can't even fully see his face with that hood he's got!"

"And anyway, what's up with that grubby outfit he's wearing?" Kaoru wondered, eying the girl from across the room. "It's actually kind of gross."

Haruhi had a sudden sense of deja vu and blinked, since the same thing had once been said about her.

"Maybe he can't afford the school uniform," she suggested, shrugging when they glanced at her in surprise. "I wouldn't be surprised: after all, he _is_ my new neighbor... and the apartment he lives in isn't really in top condition."

"I see," the twins droned at the same time, walking around Haruhi and examining her with mischievous eyes. "Interesting."

"Don't try anything funny tonight," Haruhi warned, giving them a major glare. "Saelind's not a part of the Host Club: when you guys come over, make sure to just leave him alone."

"Aww," Kaoru groaned, glancing at the dazed-looking girl with an unreadable expression. "That's no fun."

Around that moment, their first-hour teacher came in and class began.


	3. Chapter 2: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

**Chapter Two: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum**

_How did this end up happening?_ Saelind grumpily wondered, holding her backpack clutched against her chest with hunched shoulders. _Why is it happening?!_

"Soooo..." the redhead on her left drawled, making her tense up even further. "Shall we get started on the project?"

"Yeah," the redhead on her right added, slowly leaning forward and trying to peer inside her hood. "The teacher may have paired us into threes, but Hikaru and I always end up working together since we make an awesome team. We have the highest grades in class: if you want..."

"We'll even let you copy our notes," the redhead on her left continued, making her scowl fiercely, "that is, if you'll repay us by..."

"Answering a few questions about yourself," the redhead on her right finished. "If you wouldn't mind."

"Actually, I very much would," Saelind hissed, shackles rising at their audacity; the twins blinked when she pulled her own textbook out of her backpack and angrily slammed it down. "And since you've thoroughly pissed me off, I'm working solo for this project: you may have had the top grades, but I'm planning on surpassing you since I've seen your test score sheets: neither one of you have gotten a hundred percent."

"Ehhh...?" the redhead on her left drawled, leaning around and looking at her with half-lidded eyes. "So, you're a Mr. Smarty pants then?"

"How interesting," the redhead on her right yawned, trying to look bored. "No wonder everyone hates you."

"How other people feel isn't my problem," Saelind grunted, rubbing her visible teal eye. "if they don't like me, there's this beautiful thing called 'ignoring' that everyone has the capacity to achieve. I'd prefer it if you two would shut up and leave me alone."

"You're a fiesty one," the first twin chuckled. "I think we're gonna..."

"...have some fun," the second twin finished, making a vein bulge out on Saelind's forehead. "This project of ours will be a blast, Hikaru."

"You two are weird as hell," the girl finally muttered, shuddering when they blinked and stared at her in surprise. "Just leave me alone!"

However, when the twins simultaneously put their arms on her shoulders, she snarled like a wild dog and startled the hell out of them.

Growling deep in the back of her throat, the girl angrily stood up and stepped away, teal eye narrowed with fury.

"Don't..." she spat, angrily gathering her things and drawing the attention of everyone around her. "Don't ever do that again! Don't touch me! EVER!"

"Chill out!" the first redhead sighed, giving her a wide-eyed shrug.

"We're sorry!" the second redhead added, giving her the same reaction.

"Ahem: Heseroph-san, we're on page fifty-four," the teacher softly called, gesturing to the desk. "Please, take your seat until the pamphlets have been handed out. Once class is over, you can officially start the project."

Giving her a small nod, Saelind once again took her seat.

The moment she was sitting down, however, the black-haired girl immediately turned her head and started staring out the window, refusing to look at either redhead. And since they'd apparently lost interest with teasing her, things got quiet: still, her jaw was hurting and she felt so dazed and angry that she wanted to avoid socializing even more than she usually did at school. However, after nearly thirty minutes of staring up at the beautiful sky, the girl felt a gentle tap on her arm and flinched away from the contact with a small hiss.

She slowly turned her head and found herself staring up at a familiar girlish brunette with light, honey-brown eyes.

"Your name is Saelind, right?" 'he' asked, turning to look at the twins with a reprimanding expression. "I know we didn't meet each other under the greatest circumstances, and I want to apologize for my actions. Especially since we haven't even been properly introduced yet: my name is Haruhi Fujioka, and I was... sort of wondering if you, Hikaru, and Kaoru would like to join up with our group for the next class. Since we're on a break now, I thought it would be a good opportunity to invite you."

"No thanks," Saelind muttered, averting her teal eyes as her lips twisted uncomfortably; she clasped her hands together beneath the desk to keep them from shaking, since she hated this kind of attention. "I'm ahead in all of my classes, so all I have to do is wait for my textbooks to arrive from home... this is pretty much a free, no-work week for me."

"That reminds me," the redhead on her left asked.

"Where are you from?" the redhead on her right completed.

"Very far away from here," Saelind mumbled vaguely. "Now, if we're done, can you leave me alone again, please?"

The three of them noticed her tense posture and shared a confused look before Haruhi returned to her own partners back at her desk.

Saelind sighed in relief and turned to look out the window again.

She didn't know that Haruhi kept an eye on her throughout the day, or even that the brunette was increasingly disturbed by how little she seemed to move.

Several hours passed, and before she realized what was happening, the lunch bell rang and Saelind slowly closed her eye. She took a deep breath before getting to her feet and silently making her way for the door. Both twins shared a glance with each other and shrugged, since the girl hadn't even given them time to ask what they'd wanted. Anxiety is what made Haruhi follow Saelind: she couldn't deny that she was curious about the new girl, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something about her was... off.

Saelind gave off a weird vibe that made her stomach twist... a vibe that made the air feel like a storm was about to roll in. Haruhi was worried that more drama would spring up if the new girl went off by herself. However, that's when she noticed Saelind staring after a girl who'd just run past her: the yellow-clad student had run up a flight of stairs, but when Saelind followed her, her path led Haruhi all the way to the school rooftop. The brunette blinked when the tiny girl walked through the doors leading outside.

"What's she doing?" Haruhi wondered blankly, staring at the swinging door with startled brown eyes. "That part of the school is off limits..."

Slowly making her way up the stairs, the girl poked her head through the door... and went rigid.

"STUPID MOTHER!" a girl shrieked loudly from somewhere nearby. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"

"What are you doing?" Saelind's monotonous voice inquired. "Why the heck are you on the roof?"

The girl instantly let out a screech, sounding as though she were being hurt.

Brown eyes flashing with anxiety, the brunette tore onto the rooftop and sprinted towards the area where the sound was coming from. However, when she heard Saelind's voice speaking something else that she couldn't hear, she skidded to a halt and frowned in puzzled disbelief. Her snappish tone had gentled to the point where it almost didn't sound like her.

"I have every right to hate her! I mean, it's not fair!" the female voice snapped, sounding extremely angry. "That woman isn't my mother, and she's selling all of the stuff my birth mom gave to me over the years! Just this morning she had my grand piano sold to a man who smashed it into pieces! You just don't get it, so don't tell me it's not good to hate my mom! Don't act like you understand!"

"I don't understand the pain of your personal situation," Saelind quietly agreed, making the eavesdropping brunette furrow her brows in total confusion; she sounded like a completely different person. "However... I _do_ understand the pain that comes from not being able to help someone who's hurting, as well as the pain of being the one in need and not having anybody help you. You're alone and suffering... nobody deserves that."

"What do you know?!" the girl snidely demanded. "You don't have to deal with my horrible step-mother, so why do you care?"

"Because I understand," Saelind stated simply, voice cracking on the last word. "You said she didn't love you, right? I can... relate."

When Haruhi slowly moved forward and peered around the corner, she beheld the tiny girl standing with her back against the fence surrounding the rooftop; beside her was a cute girl with cherubic brown hair and large glasses that made her owlish brown eyes look even bigger than they already were. However, at the moment she was glaring at the ground with red cheeks.

"Oh, really?" the girl demanded, looking up at the hooded teen with a scrunched face. "Why don't you tell me about _your_ situation, then?! After all, you're acting like such a know-it-all that it's only fair that I compare my situation to yours! How's that sound, Mr. Smarty Pants?"

"You don't want to know," Saelind stated softly, stoic expression never changing as she stared at the clouds. "My situation is a bit different than yours."

"Spill it!" the girl snapped, glaring at her. "It doesn't matter if I want to know or not: you made me say such embarrassing things that it's only fair! Nobody at this school knew about the issues with my mother, so I'll feel more comfortable if I have blackmail!"

"Fine," Saelind muttered, giving her a cold look. "Don't say I didn't warn you, though."

"What do you mean?" the girl scoffed, narrowing her eyes in suspicion when she slowly knelt down and pulled her hood off. Haruhi blinked and peered around the corner with intense eyes when Saelind unfastened the tie holding her bangs across her face. When she lifted her small hand and slid her hair to the side, however, the girl gasped and jerked back against the fence. "W-w-what's wrong with your face?! W-wha...? Why is your... n-no way! What on Earth happened to you?!"

"These scars are the result of a parent's neglect," Saelind stated quietly, letting her hair fall back across her eye. "My mother and father weren't the greatest people in the world, but the three of us were a family... or, at least that's what I believed until this happened. My mother... had a dinner party one evening, and someone who was invited left their stove on by accident. Because of that, the entire apartment building where we lived caught fire."

"Oh, my God!" the girl whispered, covering her mouth before she slowly lifted her hand and tried to touch her face. "You poor thing!"

Saelind instantly jerked away from her fingers, making the girl draw back a bit.

"Please, don't touch me," she stated calmly, giving the girl a firm expression. "I can handle most things, but... I don't like the sensation of being touched since I can't feel the left half of my body anymore. It makes me jittery."

"What happened to you?" the girl whispered, shaking her head and covering her mouth. "How did you get burned?"

"I was trapped on the top floor with the baby sitter: the left side of my body was burned in our attempt to escape," Saelind explained, shrugging her shoulders before she rolled back on her heels and looked at the sky again. "It didn't end there, though: you see, about a year and a half after I recovered from the accident, my father abandoned us... and last week, my mother finally sent me away because she couldn't stand looking at me anymore. She blames me for him running off on us, see?"

"You poor thing!" the girl whispered, sounding totally horrified. "That's awful! What kind of horrible parents would do that to their child?"

"Mine," Saelind deadpanned, giving a weak little chuckle that made Haruhi cover her mouth; her brown eyes were wide and she looked thunderstruck by what she'd just heard. "After the fire, my parents were ashamed of me... for a long time, they hid me upstairs when we had guests and they never allowed me to go to school... but worst of all, they acted like I didn't exist any longer."

"That's so sad," the girl mumbled, taking her glasses off with a twisted expression; much to Haruhi's surprise, the girl was crying. "If I were you, I would always be crying... I don't think I'd ever be strong enough to keep moving forward if I were in your place, so you're pretty amazing. How do you not cry?"

"I do cry, all the time," Saelind quietly laughed, lifting her head and staring at the sky when she blinked. "I just do it in a way that most people don't understand. When I was little, I was considered extremely wild... my name, believe it or not, means 'Dragon Song' in my native tongue: _Sael_ is the word for music, and _Lindaen_ is the word for Dragon. Those two combined make up my name. I express sadness in a very... erm... _primitive_ manner."

"What do you mean?" the girl asked, blinking at her in an owlish way. "Wild and primitive? How can someone cry like that?"

"Easy," Saelind replied, glancing down at her with a small smile; and with that, she stood up, arched her head back, took a deep breath... and let out a keening howl that made her sound almost exactly like a wolf. Haruhi and the girl she'd been talking to twitched in surprise and stared at her from their respective spots with enormous eyes, watching in shock as the girl let out that keening, animal-like wail. However, in an odd way, they both heard the pain that she seemed to be lacking in her expression.

They could hear it lacing the tone of her voice... could hear it being woven into the air.

When it came to an end, she took another deep breath and let out another sorrowful howl... and another one... and another.

And when she was finally done howling, Saelind turned and glanced at the girl over her shoulder with a sad smile.

In the distance, a wolf howled back, making two sets of eyes widen in shock.

"It's not bad to cry, you know," Saelind stated softly, turning around and stretching her skinny arms with a sigh. "If you're really having issues with your step-mother, you should just talk to her. I mean, if you properly explain yourself and ask that she tell you her side of the story, I'm fairly certain that you'll both feel better all around. Plus, if you play your cards right, you'll open up at least five different paths to fix all of the problems that are causing you so much grief. If you listen to her... she will definitely listen to you in return. I swear."

And with that, she gave the yellow-clad girl a wave and started walking away.

Haruhi freaked out and immediately bolted around the opposite corner, pressing herself against the wall until she'd moved past and gone through the door leading downstairs. Her heart thumped madly against her chest, but when she slowly walked around the corner and peered at the other brunette, she was startled to see that the girl was staring at the ground with a blush on her cheeks.

"He's an awesome guy," she mumbled, fiddling with her thumbs before looking up at the sky. "I guess... maybe, I could try talking to her?"

Haruhi didn't want to see anymore: she instantly headed downstairs and practically flew towards her classroom.

"I think I just saw something I shouldn't have," she whimpered, covering her face with both hands. "That was so weird! She was howling like an animal! And an animal howled _back!_ What the heck was all that about?!"

When she ran inside the classroom and took a seat at her desk, Hikaru and Kaoru were already in the middle of an argument with each other.

"I think you're overthinking it, Kaoru," Hikaru drawled. "If we let things work out the way they're supposed to, maybe we'll be surprised."

"But Hikaru, this idea for the Host Club is totally amazing!" the other redhead replied, poking his lip out when the girls in class started gawking with entranced expressions on their faces. "I swear, I'm not overthinking it! Why are you so mean to me?"

The other twin's eyes widened when his brother turned away with a single tear sliding off of his lashes.

"I... I'm sorry, Kaoru," Hikaru murmured, blinking before pulling him into a hug; the girls in the room turned bright red, and few of them squealed in delight, making Haruhi roll her eyes and look away. "I'll listen to it, I promise."

"Weird as ever, I see," Haruhi sighed, lifting her doe brown eyes with a disheveled huff. "I wonder where Saelind is?"

"Who cares?" Renge's voice snapped; Haruhi jumped when the girl sat down at her own desk and tore into her food. "Why is everyone on his side all of a sudden? I mean, the creep hit me on his first day, his face is just gross, and on _top_ of that he has psychotic tendencies! Why doesn't anyone see it?"

After a moment of blinking, Haruhi hooked a glossy strand of hair behind her ear and looked at the floor.

"They do: everyone _aside_ from me thinks the same thing as you," the brunette mumbled, averting her eyes. "Personally, I feel kind of bad about it."

"You're a goody goody, though, Haruhi: that's why you feel guilty," the blonde pointed out, flapping a dismissive hand. "You're too nice."

However, Haruhi didn't listen to what she was saying: she had realized that Saelind was an extremely complex person, especially since her antisocial mood had done a total one-eighty the moment she'd come across someone who'd been openly suffering. Not only that, instead of repelling that person with her words and actions... she had somehow gotten through to her. She'd even made her feel better and opened up a window of opportunity to fix her issues.

Then there was the stuff she'd heard about her parents... Lord have Mercy.

It was still giving her chills.

She actually pitied Saelind after discovering how screwed up her family life was, and it also made her understand that Ranka had been right in a way: being openly cruel to a person like her was wrong, especially since she'd already suffered so much. _HOW_ her father had suspected something about Saelind's situation was anyone's guess, since the man was a natural airhead.

But he'd done it, and only one thing was certain now: Saelind's behavior was a self-defense mechanism.

She wasn't really as mean and cold as she tried to seem.

Still, she'd been fairly stunned to see her howl at the sky like a wolf that had been left all alone in the middle of nowhere.

"It's actually a lot sadder that way," she absently murmured, planting her chin on her palm with a thoughtful expression. "It would have made less of an impact on me if she'd done it normally... I feel even worse about her situation now. Urgh... I have to figure out a way to do something that might make things easier. It's the least I can do."

"Done what normally?" Renge asked, pensively taking a bite of the rice in her lunch box with her chopsticks. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing, just thinking out loud..." Haruhi muttered, shaking her head. "Anyway, I'm gonna study a little bit since I'm not hungry."

"Suit yourself," the blonde girl chuckled, waving her lunch box around. "Not my fault if you get hungry later on!"

"It's not like I even need extra calories," the brunette sighed, rolling her eyes. "I had enough of them last night!"

That much was true: Saelind's stir fry had been out of this world.


	4. Chapter 3: Beautiful Narcissus

**Chapter Three: Beautiful Narcissus**

The next day, the absurdly boring normality that came with high school caused rumors to die down, so people forgot about Saelind's transfer.

However, during the last ten minutes of her last period, Haruhi was thrown through one of the most shocking loops of her entire high school existence.

There was no way this could be happening... it just wasn't possible.. it couldn't be!

But it was, and the girl was openly stunned since it severely complicated things: Suoh Tamaki himself had come into her classroom without warning and approached Saelind with a bright gleam in his eyes, not even paying attention to how all of the girls immediately swooned. He really was a handsome young man, all things considered... he had creamy skin, dreamy sapphire eyes, platinum blonde hair that had just the right wave, and a dashing smile. On top of that, he was athletically toned because he played tennis, and his school uniform was always being worn neatly since he was a very refined young man. He looked, for all the world, like the son of a prince: hence why the girls adored him so much.

Compared to an antisocial recluse like Saelind, who had no charm or even any masculine sex appeal, Tamaki shone like the sun.

So, why the hell was her big-time crush speaking with the girl that everyone thought was a boy?

Better yet, why did Saelind even look okay with it?

"This might not end well," Haruhi droned, furrowing her brows and drawing the attention of the twins. "It's an accident just waiting to happen."

"What is?" Kaoru droned, sounding thoroughly bored. "You mean what Boss is doing?"

"Yep," the brunette deadpanned, folding her arms and watching with a quirked eyebrow. "He's chatting with Saelind. With his kind of personality, it's literally like watching a puppy try to paw at a snake._"_

"Well, Saelind Heseroph _is_ in a fairly odd situation," Kyouya Ootori suddenly stated, making all three of them jump; he was looking at some papers from behind his glasses, and when Haruhi tried to catch a glimpse, she was startled to see a picture of Saelind on one of them. "According to my intel, every day after school, he flies through the work he skips here and sits in a corner until it gets dark. The boy doesn't even own a futon: he literally curls up on the floor like a dog each night and goes to sleep. Very odd indeed."

"Uh, and you know all this... _how?"_ Hikaru instantly asked, lifting his head with a curious expression. "I don't get it."

"Yeah, how _do _you know that?" Kaoru added, blinking in confusion before he shared a shrug with his brother. "Did you do another background check?"

"Oh, yes, but I couldn't find any solid info on what kind of a person Saelind is," the pale boy sighed, flipping through another paper. "I've requested to have his old school files transferred here since I'm actually rather surprised that someone like him made it into our school."

"I can see right into... his... apartment from my bedroom window," Haruhi quietly pointed out, making all three of them stare at her; she shrugged and looked at the black-haired girl with a sigh. "Still... I think there are lots of misunderstandings floating around here."

"Honestly, the only thing I know for certain is that Saelind is an Honor student like you, Haruhi," Kyouya snorted, glancing up with a hard flick of his eyes. "I can understand why Tamaki would want to approach him, especially since you seem to be a very likeable person. Still, he's rather naive: not everyone is as polite and kind as you are. Let's just wait and see what happens."

"Why don't we keep an eye on him when we drop over at Haruhi's place tonight?" Hikaru mischievously suggested. "Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah!" Kaoru agreed, eyes shining in delight. "That way we can find out what he does after school each day!"

"No!" Haruhi stated, crossing her arms like an 'x' and shaking her head. "Not happening!"

"Aww, come on!" the twins begged simultaneously. "Please?"

"No!" Haruhi repeated, then winced when they gave their best puppy dog eyes. "Kyouya-sempai, help me out here!"

"I personally don't care one way or another," Kyouya snorted, flipping through several more papers with a frown. "Do whatever you want."

For a long moment, the twins merely stared at him with an open mouth... but then they cheered, and Haruhi let out a disheveled sigh.

"Look," the girl pointedly muttered, ignoring how the redheads gawked at her instead. "You two just openly suggested that we _spy_ on someone we don't know very well. Saelind is a genuinely quiet person, and he doesn't like being touched... but he's _not_ antisocial like everyone thinks, and spying on him would technically be considered a crime."

"Are you kidding?" the twins deadpanned at the same time, giving her two identical half-lidded looks. "That kid is the _definition_ of antisocial."

"Did you ever take into account that he's not even from this _country_?" the brunette asked, frowning at the twins with furrowed brows. "Remember what our teacher said when Saelind first transferred here? He's from Russia!"

"So what?!" Kaoru snapped, throwing his arms into the air. "Who cares if he's from another country?!"

"That boy isn't normal," Hikaru agreed, giving a nod. "He's bipolar and he's also... kinda creepy._"_

"You're over-thinking things," Haruhi sighed in dismay, patting her cheeks to wake herself up. "Stop worrying about Saelind so much!"

Around that moment, the last hour bell rang and everyone started collecting their things... aside from Tamaki and Saelind, who somehow seemed to be lost in a conversation with each other. Shockingly enough, the tiny black-haired girl didn't look as though she was irritated by being bothered: the last time someone had tried talking to her like this, she'd hissed like a snake.

On top of that... it had been revealed that her canines were unbelievably sharp-looking.

"I guess we should get going," Haruhi muttered, glancing at the conversing boys. "We shouldn't keep the girls from the Host Club waiting."

"That's right!" the twins chanted simultaneously. "We need to get things ready for the upcoming pool opening!"

"Er, yeah..." Haruhi sighed, shaking her head and crumpling up the paper she'd been writing on. "Just let me grab my things."

"Haru-chan!" Honey squealed from the doorway, jumping onto Mori's leg with a laugh when the tall boy ducked into the room. "We came to get you!"

"Be ready in a sec!" the girl called, then glanced at Mori to see that he was staring right at Saelind with a startled expression: when she followed his gaze, she saw that the dark-haired girl had stood up and was now sitting on the open window sill. Her skinny legs were swinging back and forth as she listened to whatever the hell Tamaki was babbling about. "Uh-oh... doesn't Mori-senpai like small things?"

"Hmm? Relatively speaking, yes," Kyouya explained, glancing down at her in surprise. "Why do you ask?"

"That," Haruhi groaned, pointing at the giant's glazed eyes and dazed expression. "He apparently just noticed that Saelind is really, really tiny."

Kyouya immediately followed her finger and snorted when he saw the boy's face.

"Well, this is an interesting development," he muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I've never seen him look so out of it."

"Haru-chaaaaan!" Honey called, climbing up to Mori's shoulders and waving at her once he was sitting there. "Come on!"

"I think it would be best if we wait for the Boss in the club room," Kaoru agreed, nodding. "We should wait for him there."

When the girl nodded and left the classroom with her friends, however, Haruhi couldn't help but glance back over her shoulder at Tamaki, who was still ranting about something in an excited tone. Then, despite her reluctance to leave the room, the brunette shut the door and swept down the hall after the Host Club. The blonde boy twitched in surprise after it closed and glanced over his shoulder, since he hadn't even noticed that everyone had already left the room; then he turned back around.

"Is that really all you did, though?" Tamaki asked, looking thoroughly mesmerized. "Somehow, I just can't believe it... Ami-chan is a really quiet girl, and she almost never says anything good about her step-mother, not even to me! The fact that she came to school this morning dancing in circles and singing like a _lunatic_ is totally outrageous! How did you do it?!"

"I told you seven times," Saelind deadpanned, expression completely blank. "I lent her an ear, allowed her to rant, told her about my situation because she demanded to know about it, and then gave her some constructive advice. That's all."

"I don't know what to say... I'm positively speechless," Tamaki gasped, swirling around and pressing a dainty hand against his forehead. "You broke through Ami-chan's barrier so easily! You must be a prince in disguise, nay, even better than that! Ami-chan is one of my regular guests in the Host Club as well as one of my classmates, and she did nothing but gush about _you_ when she came to school this morning! She was babbling, my friend... and normally, she's the kind of girl who prefers reading a good book instead of talking to people. She told me, quite loudly, that her family had been having lots of misunderstandings because they'd never really sat down to have a serious talk in order to explain their feelings."

"Almost all minor misunderstandings with families stem from a situation where someone is being unclear," the tiny girl snorted, closing her eye with an irritated expression on her face. "In order to fix a problem, you first need to find out the cause: this can be done by clearly and respectfully talking about the issues you're having. If you get past that, the stress you're dealing with can easily be resolved... however, major family problems are a different story: those can be hard to fix... if fixed at all."

For a long moment, the blonde boy merely gaped at her; Saelind, however, took the silence as her cue to pack her things.

"You're an impressive young man," Tamaki finally sighed, shaking his head in amazement. "I never thought I'd ever hear such an ingenius statement coming from someone my own age. It seems like your maturity level is well above the norm. Tell me, would you like to join the Host Club?"

"No, I wouldn't, since I really don't like talking very much," the black-haired girl countered, hefting her bag. "And anyway, what I did for that girl wasn't really anything special, okay? She was pissed, I got annoyed, so I told her how to fix her situation: that's all. When you're living on your own like I am, you need to grow up fast. However, that doesn't mean I like anyone, okay?"

And with that, she stiffly headed for the door of the classroom.

"Still, thanks for helping Ami-chan," Tamaki called, giving her a cheerful wave; Saelind instantly paused with her hand on the door handle, not really comprehending what she was hearing. "She's one of my most loyal guests, so... I'm glad that you made her feel better!"

"Don't mention it," the tiny girl muttered, giving a little shrug as she opened the door. "Seriously."

_Especially since even you can't tell that I'm a girl,_ she sadly added, feeling more than a little depressed. _Everyone really thinks I'm a boy._

Feeling irritable and bitter, she left the room and started making her way down the empty school hallway, completely ignoring the blonde who poked his head out and stared at her drooping shoulders in admiration. Saelind made her way home the way she usually did, stopping off at the grocery store and grabbing a snack since she wasn't feeling all that hungry for dinner. However, when she made it back to her apartment, she didn't even manage to make it inside before Ranka stopped her.

"Saelind!" the drag queen called, giving her a smile and a womanly wave. "Would you make dinner for us again tonight?!"

"No," she coldly retorted, not even breaking her stride. "Please leave me alone before I file a restraining order."

"Aw, don't be so stingy!" the man pouted, hopping up her stairs two at a time and flapping a hand in front of her face in an attempt to make her smile. "You did it for us yesterday, remember? Also, Haru-chan is going to be busy again tonight, so I could really use your help!"

Saelind didn't respond, but she did let out a sigh of dismay before grouchily turning around.

Ranka squealed in delight when she headed over to his apartment and stalked up the stairs.

The girl spent a total of two hours creating a difficult Middle Eastern recipe, then set a plate on the table and wrapped up the rest so they could have it as leftovers. With that, she left the man's apartment without telling him, heading back over to her own and leaning against the wall once she was in her barren living room. Little to her knowledge, Haruhi and the rest of the Host Club members had walked around the corner just as she'd left and had stopped dead in their tracks with expressions of disbelief.

They'd been on their way to Haruhi's house from Ouran and seen the girl leaving the Fujioka home: Tamaki, however, practically burned a hole in the concrete running over to the front door. Once he was inside, he found Ranka eating dinner at the table with an expression of genuine delight.

"Oh, hello, Tamaki," Ranka sourly greeted, rolling his eyes; then he saw Haruhi and the others and happily waved his fork. "Welcome home, Haruhi! Also, welcome to all of you! Anyway, you've got to try some of this! It's a new dish!"

"Who was it that just left this apartment?!" Tamaki excitedly asked, leaning forward with an intense expression. "I saw someone leave!"

"We all did," Honey added, clinging to Mori's back like a spider monkey. "Was it the boy in the green sweatshirt?"

"Oh, that's just the new neighbor boy," the woman explained, giving Tamaki another sour expression. "He made us some awesome concoctions today and yesterday: he comes off as a little sharp and rude, but he's really a nice boy and he deserves a lot better than he has."

"Oh?" Kyouya asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "And what exactly does he have?"

"Well, he's living by himself, since he has no parents," Ranka gushed, flapping his hand before he yawned and removed his wig again. "Lord, this thing itches."

"All right, all right," Haruhi finally sighed, shaking her head in dismay. "Let's just eat and hang out. This is a sleep-over for studying, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" everyone cheered, thrusting their fists in the air. "Study sleep-over!"

However, after everyone had eaten and had gotten situated, Honey developed a sweet tooth and started craving candy.

"Haru-chan! Haru-chan!" he pleaded, tugging on her sleeve. "Do you have any candy?"

"Yeah, actually," the girl absently murmured, scratching her ear as she struggled to solve a difficult math problem. "In my dresser: go check the top drawer."

"I'll go, too," Mori muttered stoically, unfolding himself from the ground when Honey cheered and ran down the hall. "He'll overdo it."

After following Honey into Haruhi's room, however, the tall youth realized that the adorable blonde had already found the bag of chocolates. He was already on his way out: humming happily, Honey skipped back down the hall towards the rest of the Host Club. Mori took a deep breath and was just about to follow him when a flash of movement over by the window caught his eye. Turning slightly, he examined the sill and frowned since he didn't see anything unusual.

Then he caught a flash of green and blinked, slowly moving over to the window and carefully pulling the curtain aside.

His eyes widened and he froze when he saw a half-naked girl with extremely long black hair standing with her back to him. He wanted to move, to run out of the room, to call for somebody... but his body had frozen up on him, and he couldn't do anything but watch in horror. However, then the girl turned, and his face flamed even brighter red since she was wearing nothing but a pair of crumpled jeans and a pale pink bra. However, after a moment, he frowned since there was a familiar green sweatshirt behind the girl.

_What's that doing in there?_ he wondered, still frozen in place. _Doesn't that sweatshirt belong to the boy who transferred into Haruhi's class?_

However, then the girl lifted her face, and his breath was knocked out of his lungs from the shock.

A familiar teal eye had been revealed when the girl's long hair had shifted: Saelind wasn't a boy at all... she was a girl.

Then he saw the burn scars... and he gasped, eyes widening and mouth dropping open in shock for the first time in his life.

_That's why she wears that hood,_ he dazedly realized, blinking in a stunned manner. _Ouch..._

It was around that moment when he realized that the girl was looking at an opened letter.

For several moments long moments, there was no expression on the visible half of her face ... but then, her soft lips twisted in anger and she tore the letter into shreds without even bothering to pick up the pieces. Then she practically tripped on her own jeans in her attempt to run over to the window; Mori twitched and finally pulled himself out of view, pressing himself against the wall when the sound of sliding glass met his ears.

When he heard the girl breathing hard, he shivered... but then, he paused because she sounded as though she were struggling not to cry.

Oddly enough, he was right.

A few seconds later, she took a deep breath and let out a mournful wolf's howl.

Mori jumped and and slowly slid down to the floor with a startled expression, hugging himself as the girl frantically howled over and over again, howling until her voice cracked and she couldn't do it any longer. Even then, she tried... and when he hesitantly took a peek through Haruhi's window, he saw that the girl was clutching the sill with trembling hands: her head had been lowered.

She looked broken.

However, far off in the distance to the north, a wolf howled in response... and soon, more howls began to erupt, baying at the sky in a harmoniously wild song. The sounds made Mori twitch in surprise and he immediately pulled back, heart thumping wildly: Saelind lifted jer teal eye and glanced at the barely visible sky with a solemn expression. Her long hair had been undone and she was shirtless aside from her underwear.

Which had, in truth, done nothing but expose her horrible scars.

"Never," the girl whispered hoarsely, high-pitched soprano echoing into Haruhi's room. "I'll never come back... after all, _he_ only came back because you promised you'd send me away, right? It doesn't matter what you say to me now: even if you're getting a divorce for my sake, what you did to me was unforgivable. I'm never coming back, Mother... so you can grow old alone for all I care."

With that, she slammed the window shut and stormed into the bathroom; a few minutes later, steam started wafting into the hall.

Mori clutched his heaving chest with a frightened expression.

Haruhi, however, was peering into her own room with a solemn expression since she'd seen the last of it.

If howling was Saelind's version of crying, she figured that the girl must have just had a serious baby-like breakdown in her own way.

It made her feel sick, and she slowly started wondering what had put her new neighbor in such a bad mood.

Then she wondered why she was even worried about her in the first place.

However, she blinked when Mori slowly sat up and took another peek through her window... which he regretted fully and completely.

His face instantly flashed bright red and he yelped before covering his eyes and ducking beneath the sill.

Saelind had just walked out of the shower completely nude, with nothing but a towel held just in front of her chest to conceal her body: he had only caught a glimpse of her slender figure, but she really _was_ extremely tiny for a fifteen-year-old girl. In fact, the uninjured side of her face had a surprisingly childish quality: large teal eye, smooth cheek, soft lips...

She looked like a little kid.

Finally getting up, the red-faced youth stumbled out of the room and bolted right past Haruhi.

He didn't even notice that the girl had been standing there.


	5. Chapter 4: Another Debt Owed

**Author's ****note:** There's a bit of realistic violence in this chapter. Read with caution

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter Four: Another Debt Owed<br>**

Haruhi was almost completely exhausted by the time everyone finished studying: after everything she'd learned, she felt as though her brain was having some sort of memory overload and now it was driving her completely bonkers. She'd planned on simply going to bed, but the other Host Club members wanted to watch a movie, so she decided to spend some television time with them: they watched a comedy show for a while, and Tamaki started laughing like crazy since he was still fairly new to things like common television.

However, after the show was finished, Haruhi's friends watched the movie Titanic for the first time ever.

By the end of it, Honey and Tamaki were in tears, the twins seemed rather subdued, and Mori's eyes had glazed over.

Kyouya, however, was expressionless as always,

Then the clock on the wall started chiming, signalling that it was ten thirty.

"Well, it's late," Haruhi groaned, sitting up and letting out a yawn. "We might as well go to sleep now, huh?"

"Yeah," Kaoru yawned, then looked at the futons that Ranka had set up all over the room. "So, which rooms are we staying in?"

"I'm planning on sleeping out here, since Dad is," Haruhi sighed, giving him a surprised expression. "Still, someone is gonna have to sleep in my room."

The Host Club instantly went into a frenzy and started playing rock-paper-scissors since everyone wanted to sleep in the same room as Haruhi.

However, shockingly enough, Honey lost three times in a row and instantly looked up at everyone with puppy-dog eyes: he squeezed his stuffed rabbit in the hopes of winning them over, but when he realized he wouldn't get a fourth shot, he pouted at the floor. However, in order to make up for this sad situation, Haruhi gave him the entire bag of chocolate and he cheered right up.

"Thanks, Haru-chan!" the blonde boy mumbled, giving her a happy hug. "That was a good movie, too! I'm tired... g'night, Takeshi."

"Don't forget to brush your teeth," the elder boy droned, giving him a firm stare.

"I won't," Honey mumbled, rubbing his eyes before he padded off to the bathroom to do so. "Good night."

"Night Sweetheart," Ranka called, rolling out his own futon and giving Tamaki such a powerful stink-eye that it made the blonde freeze. "Don't even think about getting close to my daughter."

"Yes, sir," the blonde squeaked, giving him a fervent nod. "Wouldn't dream of it!"

"Oh, and Haruhi?" Ranka whispered, leaning close to his daughter when she blinked at him. "I'd really appreciate it if you were nicer to Saelind from on... I don't know why, but I get the feeling that... he doesn't really know how to act around other people. He's got the look of a boy who needs caring for... you know what I mean?"

"Dad, did you see his... you know," the brunette vaguely inquired, tapping the left side of her face; judging by the way the man blinked and cocked his head to the side in confusion, he apparently hadn't noticed. "Oh, geez... you really _didn't_?"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Ranka asked, frowning in worry. "A mole? A wart? Er... what was there to see?"

"Um... never mind," Haruhi weakly mumbled, feeling a sick sensation filling her throat. "That's not... my secret to tell."

"I see," Ranka sighed, nodding with a gentle expression. "I can accept that. Good night, Haru-chan... sleep well."

"I will," the brunette sighed, lying down on her futon with a sigh. "Night everyone."

"Goodnight!" the members of the Host Club chorused.

However, there was one voice that wasn't present: about ten minutes later, Honey finished brushing his teeth and left the bathroom, sleepily padding across the tatami-mats towards Haruhi's room. When he stepped inside and shut the door, he looked at the parted curtain and noticed that the window was open a little. After rubbing his eyes and glancing at the futon on the floor, he purposely went over and flopped down on it with a sigh.

"I'm so sleepy," Honey yawned, rubbing his eye before he snuggled his rabbit. "Goodnight, Usa-chan."

Then he closed his big brown eyes... and before he realized it, he'd fallen asleep.

However, around three in the morning, Tamaki woke up out of a dead sleep and jumped without really knowing why.

For several seconds, the blonde blinked at the dark ceiling of Haruhi's living room before letting out a sigh of dismay. He had almost forgotten that he was spending the night in a commoner's home, but now that he had remembered, all was well. Tamaki had just rolled over and pulled the blankets up again when a soft clanking noise came from somewhere down the hall.

"Huh...? Honey is still awake?" he wondered, slowly sitting up and tilting his head with listening ears; after a moment, he jumped since a muffled crash came from the direction of Honey's room. Tamaki carefully stood up and tiptoed down the hall towards the bedroom before opening the door: he blinked when he saw Honey lying fast asleep on the floor. "What? But if he's asleep, then who was...?"

Another muffled crash made him jump into the air, practically turning to stone from the fright that jolted through him.

He instantly looked at the opened window and blinked, since it wasn't coming from the building they were staying in.

It was coming from outside.

Then, the sound stopped... and the blonde boy twitched when a weird feeling swept through him.

He suddenly felt uneasy for no reason at all.

Slowly moving across the room and stepping over Honey's sleeping form, Tamaki slid the curtain to the side and peeked outside. However, he gasped in surprise when he spotted the new student lying curled up on her side like a little puppy. In truth, he only knew who it was because of the enormous green sweatshirt hanging on a nearby coat rack, but the part that shocked him was the fact that Saelind's long black hair had been spread out beneath her _and_ piled on top of her body like a blanket.

It was actually kind of funny to see a 'boy' wrapped up in 'his' own hair like that, especially someone as hostile as Saelind.

Despite himself, Tamaki snickered at the sight of the seemingly snappish transfer student sleeping soundly in such a ridiculous manner.

However, Tamaki's laughter caught when he noticed a hulking shadow moving near the window on the opposite side of the room: his heart immediately flew up into his throat and he froze where he was standing, muscles locking up in surprise. The figure moved back and forth, seeming to be looking for something... and not even one room away, Saelind was sleeping soundly on the floor.

_I've heard of this... _the boy realized, eyes slowly widening. C_ommoners deal with it all the time! __It's a burglar! W__ake up, Heseroph-san! Wake up!_

However, Saelind continued sleeping... and the shadow continued moving around the room, slowly making its way closer and closer to where the frail-looking girl was curled up. Heart thudding madly, the blonde did the unthinkable: he purposely let out a loud yawn, flicked on Haruhi's desk lamp, and struggled to look as tired as he possibly could before throwing the curtains open.

After opening the window the rest of the way, he grabbed a nearby broom with sleepy movements and opened Saelind's window all the way.

"Heseroph-san," the blonde called in a sing-song voice, making the black-haired girl twitch with an unexpected start; she slowly opened her visible eye and sat up, blinking like a little girl that had been woken up way too early. Then she let out a childish yawn and shook her head: Tamaki's heart flipped when the shadowy figure jumped and flew over to the nearest wall, hiding out of sight. "H-Heseroph-san! I can't sleep! Talk to me!"

"What the hell _is_ this?" the black-haired girl croaked, staring at him in confusion from within the shadows of her dark hair. "Am I having a nightmare?"

The blonde frantically shook his head and pressed a finger to his lip, making the girl's eye sharpen with alertness.

"A nightmare?! Oh, don't be so cold!" the blonde boy sighed, trying to look as though he were mildly insulted. "Come over here and talk to me!"

There was a long moment of silence, and for a few seconds, the blonde boy was afraid the girl wouldn't listen.

"Okay..." Saelind finally replied, keeping her gaze fixed on his terrified expression; she slowly stood up and silently padded over to the window sill, drawing her hair around her like a blanket in an effort to keep her body concealed. Despite her reluctance, she'd already guessed that something was up. "What's wrong?"

"There's someone in your apartment!" Tamaki whispered frantically, act going right out the window. "Someone's in there with you right now!"

"Huh?" the tiny girl hissed back, furrowing her visible brow in confusion. "What the hell do you mean?"

"I saw a shadow in your living room!" the boy frantically explained, sapphire eyes worriedly flicking behind her head. "Someone is in your home right now, and whoever it is, he's _big_! But still, I have to ask... just in case: did you invite a friend over?"

"Dude, it's three in the morning," Saelind scoffed, shaking her head with a grumpy expression. "Why the hell would I invite someone over?"

"Play along with me, then, okay?" Tamaki fretted, gesturing wildly with eyes full of worry. "I'm going to talk about some nonsensical things, then I'll find a way to get to the kitchen so I can call the authorities: you just stay right there, all right?! Don't worry: I won't let anything happen to you!"

"Are you serious?" Saelind calmly asked, furrowing her brow a second time with an unaffected expression; then she blinked and looked at Haruhi's window with a frown. "Actually... why the hell is my window right across from yours in the first place? I didn't even know you lived here."

"I don't! This is Haruhi's home," Tamaki chuckled, then froze since the shadow in Saelind's living room shifted a bit. "Just do what I say, all right?!"

"Whatever, but I think you may be going crazy... I really don't think anyone's in here," the girl sourly muttered; then she rolled her barely-visible eye and loudly exclaimed, "but that's kind of an ironic secret, Senpai! I'm not exactly shocked that you can't sleep after finding out that your best friend of nine years has a _crush_ on you! _Anyone_ would be shocked, wouldn't they?"

"Oh, uh... why, yes!" the blonde cried, dramatically flapping his arms and striking one of his famous poses. "Yes, that's what I've been saying all along!"

"Well, that may be so, but why the heck are you waking me up to talk about it?" Saelind cheerfully retorted, visible eye twitching in irritation despite her exuberant tone. "I mean, you're the one with the gay best friend, so why the hell are you coming to me with this problem?"

"Oh, you're heartless!" Tamaki squalled, pressing a dramatic hand to his forehead; then he gave the girl a forced smirk of triumph and stated firmly, "you know what, I'm not going to share my cupcakes with you for that insult!"

"Oh, no, not that!" the tiny girl droned, rolling her teal eye with a huff of unenthusiastic annoyance. "Anything but that."

"Say you're sorry, then!" the blonde smugly retorted, quirking an eyebrow and folding his arms like a spoiled prince. "I'll go get them if you do!"

"Okay, fine, I'm sorry," Saelind sourly muttered, pressing her unscarred hand against her face with an irritated expression. "Go get the damn cupcakes."

"All right!" Tamaki laughed, spinning around and heading out of the room as casually as he could. "I'll be back in only a moment!"

Honey hadn't even twitched while all of this was going on, but that was just because he was an extremely heavy sleeper.

Once Tamaki was out of sight, the blonde boy bolted for the kitchen at top speed and picked up the phone, dialing 110 with a terrified expression on his face. He hadn't ever needed to dial this number even once until now: in fact, it was only because he'd overheard one of his maids talking about it a few years ago that he even knew what to do in emergencies like this.

He was actually praying that the people on the other end would pick up.

"This is the police," a bored-sounding woman suddenly droned. "What's your emergency?"

"Madam, please! I need some help," Tamaki whispered, making the woman pause. "I need you to send someone down to Haruhi's apartment! Someone broke into her neighbor's home, and he's still in there right now!"

"Calm down, sir," the woman stated seriously. "What's your apartment number, and where are you?"

"This isn't mine, it's Haruhi's! And don't come here, go to Herseroph-san's!" Tamaki stammered, lifting his head and listening. "Please!"

Around that moment, Kyouya unexpectedly walked in from around the corner and took the phone from the blonde boy, carefully pressing it against his ear.

"Hello: the apartment is located in building 895 on the crossing of South Hibari street and Tsukikana Avenue," the glasses-wearing youth stated simply. "The door is number six."

With that, he handed the phone back to Tamaki and watched with a quirked eyebrow as the blonde pressed it against his ear.

"Please, hurry," he exclaimed, leaning over the phone with frightened eyes. "I think the Burglar who entered the apartment is huge!"

"Calm down," the woman soothed. "Dispatch is already on the way."

Before anything else could be said, a muffled crash suddenly came from the bedroom, making Tamaki and Kyouya twitch in surprise.

"What was that?" the black-haired boy asked, lifting his eyebrows in mild alarm. "It came from Haruhi's bedroom."

"Oh, no!" Tamaki whispered, mouth dropping open in shock. "Heseroph-san! Kyouya, I'm going to help him!"

"Young man, don't," the woman stated firmly. "If it's dangerous, you shouldn't—"

However, a bloodcurdling scream flew into Haruhi's house from outside, making the blonde boy's heart freeze; it was followed by several more crashes that curdled his blood and made his hair stand up. Saelind let out another terrified screech not long after that, waking everyone up and making them bolt out of bed in sleepy confusion. Tamaki instantly dropped the phone and bolted for Haruhi's bedroom, nearly crashing into Honey.

The tiny blonde had just sat up and was now looking around in groggy confusion.

"Wha's going on?" Honey sleepily asked, blinking at everything with groggy eyes. "Tama-chan?"

"Heseroph-san!" Tamaki called, flying over to the curtain and leaning out with large eyes. "Are you okay?!"

"Help me!" the pale girl cried, teal eye large with fright as she ducked and dodged the enormous man who was currently swinging a baseball bat at her. She yelped each time the deadly weapon sailed past her, dodging the man's vicious blows by only a hair's breadth with each swing: Tamaki's eyes widened in horror when she tripped and stumbled against the wall with shaking limbs. "AHH! Help!"

"Get back here," the intruder angrily snarled, bringing the weapon down with all of his strength. "Stop moving around!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" the tiny girl squeaked in terror, jumping out of the way and landing heavily on her side; she drew her skinny legs out of the way with a high-pitched squeal when the man tried to smash them with the bat. "EEEEK! HELP! HELP!"

Around that moment, Haruhi bolted into her room with the others close behind... but when she saw what was happening, her eyes widened.

"What the heck?!" the brunette cried, eyes widening in shock. "What's going on?!"

"Tama-chan!" Honey cried, running over to the window with large eyes when Saelind screeched again. "What do we do?! This is dangerous!"

"We help him!" Tamaki shouted, running for the kitchen again and grabbing a butcher knife out of the family-friendly holder; he saw the phone dangling on the receiver and heard the police woman calling for him; he picked it up and winced since the woman was shouting. "Ma'am, self-defense just became necessary! The burglar is trying to kill him with a baseball bat!"

"Don't!" the police woman snapped, trying to make him listen. "Let the professionals handle this! It's too dangerous!"

Tamaki ignored her and merely dropped the phone before he tore back down the hall. Ranka was standing at the foot of Haruhi's door with a stunned expression, watching everything with startled eyes: he always became like this in the face of an emergency... but when it came down to it, Haruhi's father always froze during the crucial moments.

Everyone else was calling advice and telling the girl to jump, to run, to get away, but that wasn't helping her.

When the thug who'd broken into her home finally cornered her, he lifted the bat and brought it down: the girl yelped and lifted her hands, catching the base of the bat between her palms. Pain instantly jolted in her elbows since the force of the swing had been extremely powerful, but she clamped down on the weapon and tried to prevent him from moving it any further.

"Saelind, hold on!" Tamaki called, catching the girl's attention. "I'm coming!"

"Tamaki-senpai!" Haruhi gasped, eyes widening in shock. "Don't!"

However, not taking into account just how reckless he was being, Tamaki hefted the knife and leapt onto the window sill before springing across the gap and tumbling into Saelind's apartment. The tiny girl had been backed into the corner by the man who'd broken into her home, and she was currently struggling to keep the bat in place by holding it between her hands.

The burglar was obviously frustrated since she was just strong enough to resist.

"Get away from him!" Tamaki angrily commanded, lifting the knife with both hands; the man instantly turned to glare at him, dark eyes shadowed. The blonde's heart instantly flipped and he swallowed, knees shaking a little. "I'll... I'll hurt you if you don't! I swear it! Now, drop the weapon, back away from our friend, and press yourself against the wall with your hands up!"

For a moment, nothing happened... but then, the man slowly did as he was told, letting the bat fall to the ground.

When he pressed himself against the wall, Tamaki nearly fainted from relief: he instantly lowered the knife and made to move towards the shivering girl, but the moment he dropped his guard, the burglar took advantage of it. Barreling towards him at top speed, the man tackled the blonde around the middle and the knife skidded across the floor: then his hands were clamped around his throat and he was seeing spots.

"Little bastard," the intruder snarled, dark eyes glazed. "I'll kill you! I'll kill _all of_ you! I'm not going to jail!"

"BOSS!" the twins shouted, eyes widening in horror when the blonde clawed at the man's face. "BOSS!"

"Get off him!" Haruhi screeched, struggling to jump out the window; Mori restrained her, however, preventing her from doing so. "Let go! Mori-senpai, stop!"

"Look," he stated in a deep tone, watching the scene in front of him with firm eyes. "Heseroph-san."

Haruhi turned her eyes on the black-haired girl just in time to see her jumping on the Burglar's back with an animalistic snarl, teal eye frenzied: however, the brunette gasped when the girl sank her abnormally sharp teeth into the side of the man's neck and bit down as hard as she could. The burglar let out a high-pitched screech and started flailing around in an attempt to get her off, but by that time, Saelind had already jumped out of reach with a cold expression.

She frantically wiped her mouth and coughed, but then she lifted her eyes with an enraged expression.

"This is over, one way or another," Saelind hissed, looking more like a snake than a human; her hands were twitching she looked almost like she wanted to strangle the man in front of her. "If you don't go to a hospital for your injury, you'll bleed to death within three hours or less. I just punctured your jugular, you know... but still, I'm curious to know how it feels to have something sharp pierce your throat like my teeth just did. How's it feel? Does it hurt?"

The man let out a snarling gurgle and clamped a hand to his neck, where blood was pumping down his skin in rivulets.

"Good," Saelind stated, blue-green eye narrowing in anger. "Remember that pain the next time you want to hurt someone else."

Around that moment, the police burst through the door with their guns out.

"Freeze!" one of them shouted, pointing the weapon at the choking man; his eyes instantly bugged out of his head. "Put your hands behind your head and lie face down on the ground!"

"He can't," the pale girl retorted, turning her visible eye on them with a cold smile; the officers instantly glanced at her. "If he lies flat, he'll die: I punctured his jugular vein, so he needs immediate medical care. Please, call an ambulance and remove him from my home."

One of the dispatch officers immediately pulled his radio out and called for an ER transport before sweeping forward and gripping the bleeding man; the other officer escorted Tamaki and Saelind over to Haruhi's house before sitting everyone down and taking a report. However, shock became apparent all around when Kyouya stepped forward and explained who he was: the officers immediately stood at attention and saluted him before continuing the report.

However, when it came to the part where Saelind had bit the creep's neck, the officer's pen halted in its tracks.

"You... _punctured_ his jugular vein by _biting_ him?" the man asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "Kid, this isn't an action movie, it's reality... so tell me the truth: how did you injure him the way you did? What kind of weapon did you use?"

In response, Saelind glared and pointedly opened her mouth, sticking her tongue out in an almost obscene manner: the police officer scowled in momentary irritation, taking the expression to be a childish form of mocking… but then, everyone in the room blinked in surprise and Haruhi's mouth fell open in shock. The girl had _inch_-_long_ canines extending from both her upper _and _lower jaw.

"Whoa!" the brunette squeaked, jerking back before she could stop herself. "What the heck?!"

"Now that..." Kaoru drawled, quirking an eyebrow.

"...is pretty wicked," Hikaru finished, shaking his head.

"You have fangs!" Tamaki cried, staring at her mouth with large eyes. "Incredible! I've never seen such a thing before!"

"Wow!" Honey squealed, leaning forward with stunned eyes. "Are you a v-v-v-vampire?!"

"Do I look like a mythological bloodsucker to you?" Saelind deadpanned, teal eye twitching a bit as she closed her mouth; she instantly fired a death glare at the group of boys, which made them huddle down. "My teeth ended up like this because my parents were nutcases: when my mother first found out she was pregnant with me, she allowed a doctor to inject snake _and_ wolf DNA into my embryo, which possibly fucked up a few of my long-term mental processes and _definitely_ screwed up the natural growth in my body. I was given the option to have my fangs filed down when I turned ten, but I refused it."

"Why?" the officer asked, staring at her in total disbelief. "Those things look sharp enough to kill someone!"

"Considering I just skewered a man's throat with them, they probably are," Saelind calmly retorted, not acknowledging how the policeman paled and absently rubbed his own neck. "However, this is how I was born and I'm not going to change myself just to meet the expectations of other people. Plus, I don't trust doctors enough to let them stick anything dangerous in my mouth: last time I trusted a doctor, I ended up getting hurt."

"Well, since it was self-defense and he broke into your home," the officer reluctantly admitted, lowering his clipboard and staring at the girl with a firm expression, "your actions were well justified: you won't have to attend a court hearing, but we will need to ask you if you're going to press charges against him. Given the situation, I would do it since he purposely tried to assault you."

"No... I'm not pressing charges," the girl hissed, narrowing her aquamarine eye when everyone gawked at her in surprise. "The injury I gave him will hurt in more ways than one for the rest of his life: it may even cause speech problems over time, considering how deep I bit him. Hopefully, that'll be enough of a lesson to keep him from committing any more crimes: there's no need to stain his record on top of crippling him."

The officer stared at the girl for a long moment... but then Kyouya started clapping with a mildly impressed expression.

"Well said," he muttered, quirking an impressed eyebrow. "You knew what you were doing to him, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Saelind stated calmly, slowly turning her gaze away. "If I hadn't done it properly, I could have killed him by accident: if you think it's easy to puncture the jugular without causing an immediate death, you're wrong. I was trained by a professional fighter to do things like this just in case dangerous situations ever rose up... I knew exactly what I was doing."

"I see... well, you did a good job, then. Anyway, we've got things to do, so let's wrap this up," the officer sighed, hooking the clipboard onto his belt before turning to Ranka. "Are you the boy's father?"

"Eh?!" the man asked, eyes widening in surprise; after a moment, however, a devious expression flamed its way across his face and he folded his arms across his chest. "Well, not legally, but I am the man who looks after him."

"Excuse me?" Saelind asked, frowning at the man in offended shock. "That's not tr—"

"Shh..." Haruhi instantly whispered, nudging her with a serious expression. "Don't interrupt him: he'll go nuts."

"What do you mean?" the girl snapped just as quietly, shooting the brunette a glare. "He's telling a falsehood! I look after myself!"

"I know that, but his expression right now... well, it's what I call the 'Daddy-is-God' look," the brunette soothed, turning a dismayed expression on her father before glancing at the Host Club members. "He'll go nuts if you defy him right now, so let's just let him fantasize to the police officer, okay?"

The two of them sat side by side as Ranka continued answering questions and gushed about Saelind; then the officer left, giving them a warning to stay out of the girl's apartment until it could be inspected and cleaned. Soon after that, however, Ranka, Haruhi, and the others went back to bed with yawns and groans, all of them looking thoroughly tuckered out: they seemed oblivious to the fact that Saelind was still there. When they left, only Kyouya and Tamaki were left sitting with her.

"Great," Saelind muttered, lowering her head in dismay. "Now where am I gonna stay? The park...? I think it has benches... but it's so cold out..."

"Oh, I'm sure you know full and well where you'll be staying," Kyouya stated, setting a hand on her shoulder; the girl instantly jerked away from him and hissed like a wild animal. "Now now, don't hiss at me like that. After all, what you just did was _insane._"

"So what?!" Saelind shrieked back, clenching her shaking fists. "I did what I had to do so the jerk wouldn't _kill_ Blondie's ditzy ass!"

"Technically, you _owe_ Tamaki for saving your life," Kyouya slyly pointed out, pushing his glasses up his nose; the girl's teal eye instantly went blank and her balled hands unraveled in total horror at the statement. "That's right: I'm glad you finally understand your situation. You owe Tamaki: if he hadn't seen that man in your house, who knows what could have happened to you? You could have died, or worse."

Saelind looked like a puppy that had just been kicked in the face by the time he was done speaking.

For a long moment, her mouth trembled... but then her eye seemed to fade of emotion and the fight left her.

"What do you want?" she demanded in a low tone, slowly getting down on her knees and lowering her head to the floor; Tamaki instantly gasped and stepped back, blinking down at her in shock. "Since you... saved my life... I have to repay you somehow, right? You are correct, after all: I do owe you a big one... so, what do you want from me? Just name it... and it'll be done, no matter how ridiculous or outrageous the request is."

"Honestly?" Tamaki asked, eyes widening in devilish delight. "So... I can ask for anything? No matter what it is?"

"Yes," Saelind practically spat, not lifting her head from the ground. "Just name it!"

"Hmmm..." Tamaki pondered, tapping his chin as he thought about it; after a moment, he came up with the most brilliant idea in the world and grinned like a fox, blue eyes lighting up with glee. "I have made my decision! From now on... you, my friend, are gonna the Host Club's new dog!"

"W-what?!" the tiny girl squeaked, lifting her head with a horrified expression; she looked stunned. "N-n-no way! That's insane!"

"You're going to carry my things, help with all of the club's chores, and you're going to make homemade lunches for me and the other members!" Tamaki continued, gesturing towards his unseen grand scheme with a few graceful flourishes. "You'll have to listen to everything the other members say, of course, and also do anything we tell you to do!"

"No way!" Saelind shrieked, staring at him with a pale face. "Hell no! No, no, and no again!"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Kyouya mockingly chuckled, waving his finger with a knowing look. "Are you going back on your word? Before you answer, I _should_ just let you know that I'm completely capable of pulling a few strings and having some charges arise against _you_ for putting Tamaki in danger."

Saelind's face drained completely of color and she shuddered violently before closing her eye in horror: then she slowly lowered her head again, shivering.

"Y-you have my word," she croaked, slowly getting to her feet and shakily walking towards the door. "Um... I-I'm leaving now..."

"Oh, and one more thing? My family employs a private police force of over ten thousand men," Kyouya called, making the girl twitch and lock up in terrified disbelief. "It doesn't matter where you go: if you do decide to skip out on us, finding you will be a piece of cake. By the way... do you have a passport?"

"Y-yes, I do," Saelind stammered, turning to look over her shoulder with a fearful expression. "W-why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason," Kyouya chuckled, making the girl shiver. "I was just curious."

"I-I'm really gonna go now," the black-haired girl whimpered, wrapping her hair around her torso once again with shivering limbs. "I... should just..."

"Nope, you're sleeping here with all of us, and tomorrow you're helping Haruhi make breakfast," Tamaki happily countered, grinning when Saelind froze and slowly shifted her path, almost robotically heading for the mentioned brunette's bedroom. Once she was gone, however, Kyouya's tense demeanor relaxed and he actually smirked a little. "Well, that was certainly amusing. I'm actually rather surprised he agreed to it so easily."

"Mommy, I've been thinking," Tamaki speculated. "Something about Saelind seems very refined, despite his crass demeanor."

"Oh?" Kyouya asked, giving him a half-lidded stare. "Do tell."

"I think, if we manage to refine Heseroph-san completely, he might just be a perfect candidate for the role that many girls adore," the blonde stated; then he whirled around and dramatically thrust his finger out at nothing. "The Tsundere type!"

Kyouya stared at him for a long moment: nothing happened within that span, and a cold breeze seemed to sweep through the room.

"If you say so," the dark-haired boy yawned, walking towards the living room. "Let's get some sleep now."

When the two of them went back to bed, however, they didn't hear the soft howling coming from Haruhi's room.


	6. Chapter 5: In the Eyes of the Beholder

**Chapter Five: In the Eyes of the Beholder...  
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When Saelind woke up the next morning, it was only because she shivered violently and let out a huge sneeze: her rippling turquoise eye slowly fluttered open and she stared at the unfamiliar brightness shining on her from the enormous veranda across the room. For several seconds, she simply stared at it, not really forming any comprehensive thought.

She vaguely wondered if she was still dreaming since she was lying on a cloud... there was no way her floor was so soft, right?

Then her mind fully woke up and her eye sharpened in an alert manner, face tightening in alarm.

"Where am I?" the girl croaked, slowly sitting up and blearily looking around; a vaguely familiar room full of sleeping lumps met her eyes, making her feel somewhat confused. "Why am I inside Ranka's apartment...? What's going on...?"

However, it was only then that she remembered the events from the previous evening.

Her heart froze and she stared at the floor, long black hair curled around her slender body like a blanket; after a moment, however, she let out another sneeze and rubbed her itching nose before groggily standing up. Several horrid chains had unexpectedly been cast across her life, and as a result... she was extremely depressed: it seemed as though she would never be left alone. Shuddering, the slender recluse covered her chest with self-conscious arms before getting up and sneaking out of Ranka's apartment.

The tranny had already gone to work, so there was no point in looking for his bike.

With shaky movements, she tip-toed outside and practically flew towards her own apartment since she was only wearing a bra.

Once she'd made it back to her own home, she ran into her barren bedroom and grabbed her sweatshirt, hastily jerking it over her shoulders and fluffing her long hair out. However, on her way out, she caught sight of her reflection in her bathroom mirror and paused, letting out a sigh. The half-hidden face of an extremely young-looking girl with childish features stared back at her: even though she was already fifteen years old, she still looked almost exactly the way she had when she'd been eleven... the only differences were her burn scars, her longer hair, and the extremely cold expression that had replaced the kind face everyone had taken for granted.

She slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath before lifting her scarred hand and sliding her hair out of the way.

Then she opened them and looked at her whole face for the first time in years.

The scars were as hideous as ever... but, at the same time, they'd given her a sense of uniqueness. It was a terrible way to be unique, but at least the burns hadn't destroyed her hair or covered her whole face: compared to how bad it _could_ have been, she'd gotten off fairly lucky. After all, she'd been trapped inside that building for more than an hour. In truth, the one who'd rescued her hadn't been a firefighter, either... it had been a young woman who had also gotten trapped inside the building. Back then, she'd lived in a penthouse apartment with her parents in Moscow: they'd had almost sixty neighbors since the building had stretched twenty seven stories into the air.

Their suite had been second from the top... and the woman who'd saved her life had been the baby sitter, the person who'd lived above them.

She had been a young mother... beautiful, bright, cheerful... completely energetic.

A wonderful person with two children and a husband... a future that had been full of possibilities.

And she'd ended it all, just for her sake.

_"_Miss Alex..." she whispered, shivering violently. "I miss you."

With a shudder, Saelind shook her head and let her hair fall back to the side, covering her scars.

Then she hurried out of her apartment and ran over to Ranka's, hoping the jerk who'd blackmailed her into this hadn't noticed. When she walked inside, however, she was rather startled to see that everyone was up and putting the futons away. It was around the same moment Saelind froze that Haruhi sleepily noticed her.

"Oh... good morning," the brunette called, making Saelind jump; the girl was rubbing her eyes and seemed to be genuinely exhausted after the events of the previous night; she didn't even look at her properly. "I didn't notice that you'd already gotten up."

"Well, look who's up bright an early!" Tamaki called, making the pale girl cower and shudder violently. "Good morning, little piglet!"

Saelind choked on her spleen and her head flew to look at him in shock.

"P-piglet?!" she squeaked, mouth hanging open in outrage. "W-what did you just call me?!"

"I should get breakfast going," Haruhi yawned, not even paying attention to the conflict. "Omelets and rice..."

"Oh, don't worry Haruhi: Saelind would be very happy to help you!" Tamaki laughed, making everyone stare at him in surprise; Kyouya smirked in a barely noticeable manner when the girl's face tightened in irritation. "As of yesterday, we've got a new dog!"

Haruhi blinked several times as she processed that, but then her brown eyes widened and she glanced at him in surprise.

"What?" she deadpanned, shock apparent on her face. "No way... senpai, you didn't!"

"Yep, I did!" Tamaki laughed, striking up another one of his famous princely poses. "I'm sure if it turns out right, he may even be allowed to join the Host Club!"

"Excuse me?" Saelind demanded, looking at him with a startled expression. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what you heard!" Tamaki laughed, twirling around with a gleaming grin. "I was surprised when I discovered that the antisocial transfer student had such a soft and tender side to him, especially since you swayed the heart of the lovely Ami-chan with such few words! You're definitely very refined, despite your... lack of sociable skills. The only thing we'd need to do is give you a make-over and get you out of that commoner's outfit!"

"Oh, no..." Haruhi whispered, looking back and forth between the two of them when sparks started flying from Saelind's eyes.

"I'm sorry... I think I just misunderstood what you said," Saelind slowly replied. "Speak in dumb-person language, please..."

"Pardon?" Tamaki asked, looking at her with a blink. "You didn't understand?"

"Oh, I understood," Saelind stated simply, glaring daggers at his face, "I simply want you to repeat it so I can see if it still sounds bat-shit crazy the second time around."

"Oh, but it's not crazy at all!" Tamaki chuckled, ignoring her rude language in favor of a dramatic pose. "It's an absolutely splendid idea!"

"Are you insane?!" Saelind screeched, eye flying open wide with anger. "I don't want to be in your club!"

"Hm... that's a shame," Tamaki sighed, pressing a dismayed hand against his forehead. "And here I thought you would like the idea."

"Yeah, I'll be taking my leave now," Saelind snorted, turning around with a clenched jaw. "Later."

"Oh, Mr. Heseroph," Kyouya called, making the girl freeze mid-step. "Don't forget our little deal, all right?"

"Would you mind helping Haruhi make some breakfast?" Tamaki asked, smiling when the girl hunched her shoulders. "She could use it!"

"Not at all," the girl reluctantly grumbled, slowly exiting the room and making her way towards the kitchen. The other club members watched in silence as she grabbed the skillet she'd brought over, and after looking in their fridge, she took stock of what the Fujioka family had and memorized it with a sour expression. After a moment, she pulled out the carton of eggs as well as the milk and several other things.

Then she opened a cabinet and poked around for some rice.

Within minutes, she had several traditional Japanese-style rice omelets sizzling on the stove: her hands worked skillfully and quickly, and by the time the identical Banes of her Existence walked into the kitchen with their picture-perfect looks set in place, the table had been set and she was sitting at it. The twins instantly grinned at her and waggled their fingers in synchronicity: the act legitimately made the girl want to bite their hands off.

"Morning, Errand Boy," Kaoru chuckled, grinning when her eyebrow twitched. "So, what's for breakfast today?"

"Yeah, is it something good?" Hikaru added, looking at the plates with large eyes. "What is it?"

"Omelet rice," Saelind stated coldly, struggling to keep her mouth from pulling into a snarl. "Can I go home now?"

"Nope," the twins stated simply, giving her a mischievous grin. "Boss wants us to keep you here until after breakfast."

"Good morning, Sael-chan!" Honey called, plodding in with Mori close behind. "Something smells really good!"

"Sael... chan?" Saelind wondered aloud, cocking her head with a confused expression. "Where the hell did he get _that_ from?"

"He likes nicknames," Haruhi called, walking into the kitchen with a tired expression. "Sorry for skipping out on the breakfast process: I knocked my ankle against the wall corner and Tamaki-senpai wouldn't let me leave the room until now."

"Whatever," the black-haired girl sighed, poking at her food with an irritated demeanor. "I'm used to cooking, so it wasn't any trouble."

"Thanks for making breakfast!" Honey gushed, looking at the gooey omelets with a drooling mouth. "It looks delicious!"

"That's because it is," Saelind muttered, shaking her head in disgust before she glanced down at herself with a wince. "I'm... going to head back over to my house to wash my clothes... I don't feel comfortable walking around like this."

"Why do you even wear those things, anyway?" Tamaki asked, waltzing into the room with a brilliant smile. "I haven't even seen you wear the school uniform!"

"That's because I can't afford it," the girl retorted, making him blink; she was staring at her food with an angry expression. "It costs three hundred thousand yen: in America, that's three thousand dollars, and in Russia... well, more than I can afford."

"That won't do," Kyouya chuckled, pulling out his phone and rapidly dialing a number. "We can lend you a uniform like we did for Haruhi."

"I don't need charity!" the black-haired girl squeaked, face flaming bright red. "I'm fine with the clothes I have, thanks!"

"Yeah, and there's still one problem," Kaoru sighed, getting up with a shrug. "We've said this once before, but still..."

"He'll never get very far with the ladies if he doesn't look the part," Hikaru finished, standing up as well. "We don't know if Saelind's looks are good, average, or even below average because he's always hiding his face."

"So what?! I could care less about my looks!" the girl snapped, mouth twisting in disgust. "I never have!"

However, when Tamaki gave the twins a knowing smirk, their eyes flashed with devilish delight.

Without warning, they looped their arms underneath Saelind's before the girl could react, eliciting a startled shout. Kyouya opened Ranka's front door and was handed a standard boy's uniform by a man wearing dark shades and a black suit. Saelind started screaming when Tamaki laughed and tried to help Honey drag her sweatshirt off.

Mori and Haruhi merely froze in place: the boy was flailing his arms and once again making a choking noise, and the girl looked stunned.

"Senpai, don't!" the brunette cried, stretching her hand out. "Stop! We're going to far!"

She was a little too late: the green sweatshirt was suddenly falling to the floor... and Saelind's extremely long black hair was swirling around her torso in gleaming tendrils. When the twins finally let her go and backed off, Tamaki instantly stepped forward and made as if to move her hair aside... but then he caught sight of her chest... and stared, eyes slowly widening in horror.

"A bra?!" the twins exclaimed simultaneously, eyes widening in shock. "Whoa! It's a B-cup! Dude, he's a chick!"

For several moments, however, Tamaki merely stood there.

Then, everyone in the room froze because they'd finally noticed the rest. Tamaki's eyes slowly widened as he took in the horrific burns that stretched across the slender girl's left side... then he looked up at her face and covered his mouth, taking note of the way her hair had been parted. Saelind was staring at him with shaking shoulders, looking for all the world like a small animal that had just been kicked in the face for no reason.

"I'm so sorry," Tamaki whispered, backing away from her with a stunned expression. "I'll be right back... I need a minute."

When he whirled around and practically ran out of the room, Saelind merely stood there, fists clenched and shoulders shaking violently.

"Um... aren't you gonna put your shirt back on?" Kaoru hesitantly asked. "It's a little late for it, since we know you're a girl now, but who knows? After all, you—"

"Shut up," Saelind hissed in a low tone, not turning around. "Just shut up..."

Hikaru instantly glared at her with a scowl.

"Hey, don't be rude," the redhead snapped, pulling his shivering twin against his chest. "I thought you had a—"

"Unless you want me to transfer schools and move away first thing tomorrow morning," Saelind shrieked, whirling around with a fierce expression in her eye, "I would suggest that you moronic idiots shut your mouths and let me calm down. Now you know why I'd never be able to join a club like yours: you pride yourself in being beautiful, and beauty is meant to be shown off. I'm not beautiful, so there's no way in hell I'm joining."

"Scars or not," Kyouya mildly pointed out, making the black-haired girl seethe, "it's your responsibility to do as Tamaki says."

However, shockingly enough, he actually froze when her enraged glare landed on him.

"You know what? Screw responsibility," Saelind stated simply, giving him a nasty smile. "I no longer care if your private police force chases me out of Japan... this place never felt like home, anyway. Oh, and by the way? You're not the only one with rich parents, jerk: my mother is a Duchess, and my father is a famous chef. In other words, I have enough money to survive for a total of sixty years on my own, so butt the fuck out."

Not once, in their entire lives, had a single member of the Host Club seen someone look so angry.

Saelind seemed ready to spit venom.

With that, she stormed out of Ranka's apartment and bolted down the stairs, long hair flying behind her like a cloud of liquid darkness.

She hadn't even bothered to grab her sweatshirt.

Everyone shivered and looked at the floor, feeling more than a little guilty: even Kyouya had a somewhat ruffled expression on his face. He, at least, had figured the girl would have been a good sport about getting riled up in one of Tamaki's schemes, but the opposite was apparently happening. Sure, Saelind was a weirdo, and yeah... she did clash with people a lot at school... but had they really done something wrong and taken things too far?

"That wasn't nice," Mori stated calmly, making everyone twitch and stare at him. "What we just did was wrong."

He was staring at the empty doorway with a solemn expression on his face.

He'd seen it again... the same look he'd noticed in her eye the first time he'd seen her face for the first time.

The eye that looked almost as though it were full of tears.

The eye that cried without ever really crying.

Mori was a popular young man, perhaps even _the_ most popular aside from Tamaki: he was athletic, quiet, and kind of bookish, but apparently girls liked the contrast of his personality compared to his 'wild' looks and adoration for Kendo. On top of that, he never failed to pay attention to his studies, so he was almost always at the top of his class. However, Saelind was literally his polar opposite: she was scrawny, abnormally withdrawn, extremely sullen, underdeveloped in a fairly _unattractive_ manner, and she was also a somewhat animalistic female in nature.

In fact, every now and then she really _did_ resemble a snake.

It was like she was calmly waiting to strike at any hands that were held out to her in friendship.

Not to mention the fact that her body had been severely disfigured...

Still, there was something about that girl that was tugging at him... it was an urge to know more about the 'Monster' everyone was spreading rumors about. After a moment, however, Tamaki came back in with a calmer expression and looked around before frowning. For a few seconds, he pattered through Haruhi's home, then walked into the dining room and looked straight at Kyouya, who had just sat down and popped a bite of omelet in his mouth.

"Where did... she... go?" the blonde hesitantly asked, hands hanging limply at his sides. "She... wasn't upset, was she...? I didn't know... it shocked me. It really did."

"She went back to her apartment," Haruhi sighed, shrugging a bit when everyone somberly nodded. "She was _extremely_ upset."

"Yeah," Kaoru added, "she told us to shut up or she'd transfer schools..."

"...and move away tomorrow," Hikaru finished.

"Yes, and she even decided to rebel against me when I intervened," Kyouya sighed, shaking his head. "Honestly, what a troublesome _girl."_

Tamaki paled and covered his mouth, cracking like a thin pane of glass as his figure whited out.

The other members instantly winced when he started dissolving, knowing that they probably should have lied.

"I hurt her," the blonde whispered, staring off at the wall with beady eyes and a frozen expression as his body eroded away. "What can I do to... let her know that I... that she... that I don't... and we all..."

He finally trailed off, looking at a complete loss... in more ways than one.

Without a word, Haruhi set her fork down and stood up, walking around the table and putting a hand on his crumbling arm.

"She'll understand, Senpai," the brunette sighed, glancing up at him with large eyes. "She may be angry right now... but she's okay."

"Really?" Tamaki asked, looking down at her with puppy eyes. "You're not just saying that?"

"Of course she is," the twins simultaneously deadpanned. "Look, Boss... the first thing to do would be apologizing to her."

"I agree," Haruhi sighed, patting Tamaki's arm before she turned and started eating the omelet that Saelind had made; she'd even gone as far as writing their names on the front using ketchup. "She really outdid herself, though... it looks delicious _and_ it's cute!"

Tamaki was already heading into her room, so he didn't respond: the boy slowly tiptoed over to Haruhi's curtain and cautiously peered through it. However, for the first time since she'd moved in, Saelind's curtain had been drawn across the window. He instantly sighed and dejectedly walked back into the main room, wondering how he could ever apologize for something so horrible.

His club was about showing off beauty.

And to someone like Saelind, such a thing was nothing but a painful reminder that she never would be.


	7. Chapter 6: Karma Can Backfire

**Chapter Six: Karma Can Backfire  
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When Saelind returned to her apartment, she refused to leave it for anything, even school and shopping.

In truth, for almost an entire week, neither Haruhi nor Ranka saw head or tail of her... and in the end, it finally got to the point where the brunette actually did the unthinkable and brought the subject up to the Host Club the following Monday. She was a little hesitant, of course, especially since Tamaki was still brooding and eating Ramen in an effort to soothe his guilt when he _wasn't_ preening for the ladies. However, missing a week at Ouran High was pretty much asking to be expelled.

That's how, after everyone had sent their guests off with promises of meeting again, Haruhi found herself in a drama-filled situation.

"Hey, Senpai?" Haruhi hesitantly sighed, turning around and clasping one elbow after the music room's doors had closed. "I need to talk to you about Saelind."

"What?" Tamaki squeaked, looking at her as though she might bite his head off. "What is it?! Is she plotting against me?!"

"Uh... no, probably not," the brunette stated flatly, looking off to the side with a twitching eyebrow. "Still, she hasn't left her home in almost a week, so I think we should probably do something to fix this situation."

"Haru-chan! Haru-chan!" Honey called, running up with large eyes. "You have a plan to make her like us again?!"

_Um, I don't think she really liked us to begin with,_ Haruhi silently groaned, wincing and turning her eyes away a second time. _I can't really blame her under the circumstances, either. _

"Well, I wouldn't call it a plan, and I don't know how she'll react," Haruhi hesitantly sighed, pressing a hand against her chest and looking at the floor with a somewhat concerned expression, "but we really do need to apologize to her. We went too far, and the results are definitely showing through her actions."

"How were we supposed to know about those scars?" Hikaru sighed, giving a shrug before he glanced at his twin. "Isn't she just overreacting?"

"But Hikaru, think about it," Kaoru stated, glancing up at him with large eyes. "What if those scars had been on one of us? I'd never want to be seen by anyone, so it makes a lot of sense that she's so upset, right?"

"Oh," the other twin stated, blinking in surprise. "You're right. I didn't look at it that way."

"Regardless, I doubt you'll get very far considering who we're dealing with," Kyouya sighed, scribbling something down in his secret file; he didn't even blink when everyone turned to look at him. "When it comes to her family bloodline, that girl is nothing to sneeze at: after the comment she made about her mother, it was fairly easy for me to find out who she was. Saelind Heseroph is the great granddaughter of Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia: her grandfather was the Grand Duke, George Mikhailovich, and her mother, Alice Kalvurichi Heseroph, is the one who's currently running the country's public affairs."

Everyone in the room practically froze to the floor.

"Whoa," Haruhi whispered, blinking rapidly from the shock of what she'd just heard. "Are you serious?"

"Does that mean Sael-chan is a _real_ princess?!" Honey squealed, eyes widening in wonder. "Wow!"

"There _is_ something I ought to mention, though," Kyouya murmured, frowning at something before his brow smoothed over. "Despite being the daughter of a Duchess, there's no real record of Saelind being burned in any document. It's fairly disquieting, since there are actually several recent pictures of her attending a private Academy without any burns on her face. I've already had a private investigator look into the subject, since I find it fairly interesting."

"How is that possible?" Tamaki asked, looking at him with large eyes. "I saw with my own eyes that she has... scars... on her face!"

The twins, however, had immediately gone quiet and shared a look with each other: this didn't go unnoticed by Haruhi.

"What is it?" the brunette asked, looking between the two of them when they averted their eyes. "You look like you know something."

"Well, it's not so much _knowing_ as it is _guessing," _Hikaru hesitantly stated, making everyone blink at him, "but... it makes sense..."

"Do tell," Kyouya stated, making both twins look at him with uneasy eyes. "I'm quite interested to hear what you have to say."

"Well... if there really are recent pictures of Saelind having no scars," Kaoru murmured, squeezing his brother's hand, "and she's got burns that have obviously been healed for a very long time..."

"She probably has a sister who looks exactly like her," Hikaru finished, uncomfortably looking away. "It makes sense if you think about it."

Haruhi blinked before she scowled in dismay: that idea had just made everything ten times worse.

"Okay, that settles it: what we did was extremely over the top!" she finally snapped, messing her hair up in frustration. "Come on, everyone, move it! We're going to apologize to Saelind right now!"

And without a word, the brunette hurried off towards the doors and ran down the hall: everyone shared identical looks of confusion and surprise with each other before hurrying after her, albeit Kyouya was moving much more slowly. He looked rather irritated, honestly, but at the same time genuinely perplexed.

Mostly because the twin idea held quite a bit of merit.

When they finally arrived at the neighboring apartment complex, however, Saelind was sleeping on the floor like always.

She had been feeling so humiliated, angry, and horrified that she didn't want to show her face to anyone.

More accurately, she wanted to die.

In the past, Saelind had never been able to find enough courage to commit suicide, but if she simply refused to eat anything, she figured she'd get sick and it would happen naturally. After all, she was an extremely frail person... and even back in Russia, when it came to having good health, the doctors had always stared at her charts with furrowed brows and told her to eat more nutrients. She was extremely small compared to normal fifteen year old girls, so it wouldn't take too many missed meals for her to develop malnourishment... or even to get sick from the lack of nutrition, for that matter.

It probably wasn't a good thing that she was seriously considering letting herself die through self-starvation.

Then again, she didn't have a reason to care.

In truth, she'd never had a real reason to care about anything: she was useless to her parents, and she'd always been second best.

She'd known that her mother hadn't wanted her before she'd hit the age of three.

It had never really bothered her, though, because up until the fire... she'd had her brother.

There had been no pain back then, only the boundless optimism that had always let her see past everyone's actions. However, after she'd woken up in the hospital, he had walked away from her without even looking back. It was then that she'd finally understood that her existence had been nothing more than a shadow.

And it was a shadow that had been cast by her twin brother, Saelvan Heseroph.

Ever since the day she'd eaten her first meal without help, the people around her had practically forgotten she was alive aside from her brother. They'd ignored her, thoroughly and completely, almost every single day of her life: her parents hadn't really needed her for anything, since all of the titles in the family would be going to her brother when he came of age, so in the end... the only person who'd had any value in their family was Saelvan.

According to her mother, she was the Extra child.

Not that this was anything new: Saelind was a strong girl, and just as stubborn as the Duchess. She'd known how to worm her way around the barrier between herself and family to get what she'd wanted, and what she'd wanted the most was to get away from everything she'd been through. However, Saelind couldn't deny that it had hurt her when her mother had told her one morning that she was being sent to live in Japan by herself.

In truth, she had been forced to give up her old life because her father had 'promised' to come back once she was gone.

However, it hadn't happened like that: her family had apparently fallen apart only a few days later when her twin had discovered that she'd been sent away. As a result, Saelvan had angrily left home to live with a distant Uncle in Austria... and now, already two weeks in, her father had yet to show his face anywhere in Russia aside from a television screen. He was currently working in America: he had always broken his promises, but this one had taken the cake. Hence why the Grand Duchess herself had sent her a formal letter of apology a few days ago and asked her to come home.

To put it simply, her mother had nobody left, and she was suffering by herself: the same spot that Saelind had been in her entire life.

_See, Mother? _Saelind thought to herself, snuggling deeper into the recesses of her hair. _I told you so: Karma is a bitch._

The girl was abruptly jerked out of her thoughts when the sound of the someone banging loudly on her front door split the air.

"Saelind!" Haruhi's voice called, sounding annoyingly cheerful as she continued knocking. "Saelind, wake up! We have something to say!"

The girl's teal eye flew open wide when the brunette tried to open her front door and she immediately covered up the left side of her face with a palpitating heart. She instantly flailed around for something to shrug over her body, but aside from her old school uniform, she didn't really have anything to wear.

"Don't!" Saelind shrieked, flailing her right hand and making a gesture for them to stop even though they couldn't see it. "Don't come in here!"

"Sorry!" Haruhi yelped, immediately closing the door all the way and stepping back. "I-I thought you were sleeping! But seriously, Saelind, we all have something we want to say! So, could you please just come out and talk to us? Please?"

Saelind opened her mouth to screech a retort, but then she halted and closed her mouth: now would be the best opportunity to get even with them for what they'd done. With a mischievous grin... the girl glanced at the private school uniform she'd worn at her last school. Slowly getting to her feet, Saelind walked over to the closet and slowly unhooked everything from the hangers, holding up the navy blue blazer and white stockings.

Then she examined the dark red ribbon that had always been tied at her throat and sighed.

She'd worn this outfit every day for three years after the fire, so she knew it would be a very easy feat to put it on one more time. However, it wasn't for memories that she was doing this: it was simply for the sake of getting even.

When Saelind was certain that Haruhi wouldn't open her front door without permission, the girl shrugged her baggy jeans off and pulled the knee-length checkered blue skirt on, zipping the side up with quick fingers. Then, she slid her button-up dress shirt on and lifted her hair off her neck, using the motion to tie the ribbon beneath her collar. Once it had been pulled into a large bow, Saelind slid her blazer over it and brushed her hair out so the left half of her face was covered.

After glancing at herself in the mirror, she pulled the knee-high stockings on and stepped into her old dress shoes.

Then she patted her cheek for some color and twisted her ear to make her visible eye shimmer with tears.

She was ready.

Feeling elated inside, the girl finally went over to the door and opened it, putting on her best act. The entire Host Club was standing on her doorstep, all of them looking either extremely nervous or unaffected. Haruhi instantly gasped when Saelind looked at her through the crack with her best unhappy expression.

"Saelind!" she stammered, fumbling over the words when she saw the girl's face. "W-we came here to... to..."

"I'll never be able to get married because of you!" Saelind whispered meekly, wanting to burst into a fit of triumphant laughter when every single male within seeing distance turned bone white. "You... y-you saw it all! My... my..."

"L-look, we're s-s-sorry!" Tamaki squeaked, forcing his way forward and folding his hands. "P-please, let us in?"

Saelind turned her eye away, batting her lashes in what she hoped looked like a shy and timid manner. Then she hesitantly nodded and pulled the door open before stepping away with her best fearful girly pose. Everyone instantly gasped, since nobody had been expecting to see her in a skirt of any variety.

"Well, now," Hikaru chuckled, slowly walking around her like a vulture circling its prey. "This is fairly..."

"...interesting," Kaoru finished, mirroring his movements before they stood together on the opposite side of the room. "I never would have expected to see you in a girl's uniform."

"You're so cruel, Senpai!" Saelind whispered, covering her mouth and biting the inside of her cheek to make some tears well up; she instantly turned her face away and shivered, closing her large eye when a tear dripped off her long lashes. "Why are you all so mean?"

Haruhi was dumbfounded: she was actually wondering if someone had switched places with the real Saelind sometime during the week.

"Are you all right...?" the brunette hesitantly asked, slowly stepping forward and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey..."

Instead of hissing like she was expecting, Saelind merely flinched and covered her face with both hands, shivering violently.

"Please, don't do it again!" she whispered in a shaking tone behind her hands. "Please! Don't!"

When Haruhi backed off, she didn't notice that Saelind wasn't shaking from fear: she was laughing and trying to hide it. On top of that, behind her hands was an enormously huge grin that had practically split her face in two: she was struggling so hard not to howl with laughter at their stupidity, and damn, it felt good messing with them.

She didn't feel the least bit guilty, either, even when Honey padded up and gripped her sleeve with a teary-eyed expression.

"S-Sael-chan?" Honey whined, looking up at her when she put her helpless-girl act back in place. "W-we're sorry! Really!"

"Yes, we are!" Tamaki chimed in, getting down on one knee and taking her hand with an extremely unhappy expression. "Can you ever forgive us for what we did? Please, if there's anything we can do to make you forgive us, just say so!"

"A-anything?" Saelind sniffed, looking at him with a large eye. "R-really?"

"But of course!" Tamaki exclaimed, nodding fervently before he looked at everyone else. "Right?!"

Heads eagerly nodded all around, making Saelind smirk inside: this was where payback would be its sweetest.

"Then... please," she whispered, turning her face to the side with her best sad expression. "Please, don't make me be the club's dog anymore! I promise, I'll forgive you, but... I'm not... like the rest of you!"

Tamaki was about to open his mouth to confirm this when Kyouya intervened, making the girl scowl inside her head.

"Fine," the black-haired boy stated, surprising the girl by calmly walking forward and brushing a strand of hair away from her large aquamarine eye. "However, everyone, myself included, thinks that you actually _are_ on the same level as the rest of us, Saelind. Your scars may not seem appealing, but there are plenty of girls who would find the story behind them very alluring since they're simply a part of who you are."

"W-what are you saying, Senpai?" Saelind whispered, eyes slowly widening in horror; for real, this time, not through forced acting. "I-I can't... I'm just not..."

"Oh, but you are," Kyouya finished, giving her a mischievous little smirk. "So, from today onward, you no longer have to be the Host Club's dog. Instead, you'll be a full member of the Host Club."

Saelind's mouth dropped open in shock and she stared at him in terror: she didn't like the smile on his face at all.

When he opened his eyes and she saw how sharp they were, however, she twitched since he'd apparently known she was acting.

_Oh, God..._ she whispered silently, shivering violently when Tamaki leapt into the air and laughed excitedly. _What the hell did I just do to myself?! I just forced myself into a corner with no way out!_

Before she could continue wailing inside her mind, Kyouya was holding a male version of the Ouran High uniform in front of her face. When she slowly took it, everyone let out a giddy cheer, and even Haruhi smiled a little: Saelind, however, was thrown for a loop when Tamaki called a hairstylist who came over to her apartment and literally dragged her into the bathroom. For nearly ten minutes, everyone waited with expressions of anticipation, hoping to see the outcome.

Several yelps and squeals of intense displeasure came from behind the door before everything fell silent.

Then, it opened... and the girl slowly came out wearing a the Ouran school uniform, on top of a leather glove for her left hand. However, her face and hair had been greatly altered compared to an hour ago: instead of flowing down her back, it had been pulled into a classic Indian-style braid. The most interesting part was her bangs, however, and Haruhi was rather amazed to see how the stylist had parted the girl's hair: she'd done it in such a unique manner that the right side of Saelind's face had been left completely exposed, while the left side was hidden by several braids that had been looped beneath her ear and weaved into the original braid.

"Oh, wow!" Honey squealed, squeezing his bunny when everyone gasped. "Sael-chan, you look so cute!"

"Gotta admit," the twins chuckled at the same time, giving a synchronized little shrug. "Never would have thought she'd look so good!"

"You're perfect!" Tamaki gasped, swirling around and squeezing Haruhi without warning. "I knew this was a good idea! Isn't Daddy wonderful?!"

"Senpai, get off me!" Haruhi cried, flailing around as her face was smothered against his chest. "Ack! Come on!"

"Takeshi, isn't she cute?" Honey laughed, glancing up at the burly youth; however, the doe-eyed blonde blinked and paused when he noticed that his cousin was staring at Saelind with a somber expression. He was the only one so far who hadn't smiled... and after a moment, Honey followed his gaze and realized that nobody had seen Saelind's eye.

He blinked and squeezed Usa-chan, staring at her face with a much less enthusiastic expression.

Her teal iris had lost its luster and she looked almost as though she'd lost something.

"Sael-chan?" Honey asked, hesitantly walking over to the girl and tugging on her sleeve; he blinked when she hissed softly, without even putting any force behind it. "Sael-chan, what's wrong?"

The girl didn't respond: she looked like she wanted to cry, but she was obviously fighting it back.

After a moment, however, she glanced at him before forcing a smile that made the blonde white out in total shock.

"What's wrong?" she asked, mouth quivering as she fought to keep smiling; her eyes scared him, and the color in his form bled out even further until he seemed to be crumbling into dust. "I'm not a dog anymore: I'm a zoo animal. Still, since everyone's going to be staring at me now, I might as well get used to it. After all... the Host Club always wins."

And without another word, the girl slid past everyone and walked outside.

Only a few moments later, the most piercing, realistic wolf's howl that anyone had ever heard silenced the merriment in the room.

It melted through the air, shredded through the city streets, and made people stop where they were in shock.

Because not even a moment later, a flurry of howls arose somewhere in the distance, sounding just as sad and lost as Saelind felt.

Thus began her worst nightmare.

"Starting today," she whispered, closing her eyes when the boys came outside. "I am a Host."


	8. Chapter 7: Tsundere!

**Chapter Seven: Tsundere!  
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The next day, school flew by with a speed rarely seen, but nothing truly eventful happened until after classes had ended: Kyouya had begun handing out flyers with Saelind's face plastered all over them to promote her arrival into the Host Club. He'd done the same thing with Haruhi when she'd first been forced to join, too, and it had thoroughly worked in everyone's favor since three girls had arrived on the very first day. Beautiful girls in yellow came from all around the school to look at the flyers with excited expressions, and gasps of delight emanated all around when they saw the black-haired girl's picture.

"Eep! He's so cute and mysterious!"

"Wow, he's dreamy! I wonder what kind of guy he is?!"

"Let's request to sit with him today!"

"Oh, oh! Tell me how it goes! I want all the juicy details!"

_Apparently, this is going to bring in more customers,_ Kyouya Ootori thought, triumphantly pushing his glasses on his nose. _Brilliant._

After the flyers had been distributed, he hastened off to the club room, where everyone was getting ready to welcome the guests.

Haruhi had demanded that she be the one to show Saelind the ropes since the girl had been thoroughly depressed after she'd joined them. She'd avoided talking to everyone even more than usual, and her eye had become disturbingly lifeless. However, since everyone wanted to give Saelind a dramatic entrance similar to the way that Haruhi had been introduced, they'd forced the girl to stand behind a closet door.

Soon, everything was in place... and when the girls finally began to arrive, Tamaki was delighted to see that five of them had requested Saelind.

Once everyone was seated, however, the lights dimmed and a spotlight illuminated the tall blonde's form.

"Welcome, dear princesses, to the Host Club," he sighed, spinning in a graceful manner and pressing a hand against his forehead. "Before we begin our regular activities, I have a wonderful announcement to make. As of yesterday, the Host Club has another new member: starting today, he is making his debut as a host... but I must warn you... his type is a very unique one indeed. Many of you lovely ladies have read the stories. Many of you have also dreamed about meeting one in real life. Now is your chance: it is with the greatest pleasure that I introduce to you... Saelind, the Tsundere!"

And with that, the spotlight split in two and swirled over to the closet door that Saelind was standing behind.

Every girl squealed in excitement and delight when the door suddenly opened and someone new walked inside: he was adorned in a cloud-blue blazer and a simple pair of dress slacks, but his glossy black hair had been tied into a braid that slid down his back like a rope of liquid darkness. His extremely pale skin and high cheek bones accentuated his long lashes, but it clashed violently with his strikingly feminine teal eye. His lips were soft, very full, and looked almost exactly like a girl's in every way, which made his face seem disturbingly beautiful.

As he walked over to the table where the girls who'd requested him were sitting, his footfalls were nearly silent against the hardwood floor.

Several gasps and murmurs erupted between the girls as they eyed the male newcomer with an intense interest.

"You have our best wishes," Tamaki chuckled, before he addressed the girls once again. "Now, let's begin with our usual activities!"

Giving him a small nod, the 'boy' silently walked up the steps and took his seat.

The moment he was sitting down, however, the girls instantly giggled and he twitched with a nervous expression.

As you could have guessed, this 'boy' was actually Saelind, who was thoroughly confused about what she was supposed to do. She felt dazed, and it made her want to avoid socializing even more than she usually did at school. After nearly a minute of waiting, the girl felt a gentle tap on her arm and had to lock her jaw shut so she wouldn't let out a hiss: she slowly turned her head and found herself staring up at a plump brown-haired girl with freckles and bright green eyes.

She was obviously someone who was only half Asian: her face could attest to that.

"Your name is Saelind, right?" she asked, looking at the pale girl with a huge smile. "I'm curious, what products do you use on your hair?"

"Yes, it's so glossy!" another girl gushed, leaning forward with large eyes. "What brand of hair products do you use?"

Saelind's face flushed and her eyes flashed back and forth, almost as though she were looking for a way out.

Then she folded her arms and let out a huff of air before glowering off to the side.

"I-I use products from a Russian company," the girl mumbled, scowling despite her flushed cheeks. "So what? It's not like I'm trying to look nice."

All five girls blinked and shared a look with each other before blushing bright red and letting out a squeal that scared the hell out of Saelind.

"He's so cute!" one of them whispered, looking into the other's eyes with glee. "He's a real Tsundere! Oh, wow!"

"So, Saelind, why did you join the Host Club?" a girl with shoulder-length black hair and large brown eyes asked. "I'd really like to know!"

The dark-haired girl winced and shivered violently before looking off to the side: there was no way she could say she'd been forced into it. However, in order to get away from everyone like Kyouya had promised, she needed to reach ten thousand customers: Haruhi had explained the same method that she'd used on her first day in the club to her before coming in, since apparently, every single girl at Ouran was oblivious to the hardships that people face. This, in turn, also made them sappy for sob stories.

_Easy enough,_ Saelind stated inside her head, looking up at the girls to see them smiling eagerly. _My life has been anything but a walk in the park._

"I joined the Host Club because I get stared at no matter where I am," Saelind muttered, looking away when the girls blinked at her. "I'd rather be stared at by people who... um... who accept me for who I am."

"Why do people stare at you?" all five girls gushed at the same time, leaning forward with large eyes. "Does someone not accept you?"

"Lots of people don't accept me," Saelind retorted, folding her arms and trying her hardest to look angry. "N-not like I care!"

Blushing faces were soon giggling in amusement before another girl decided to ask the winning question.

"Why don't they accept you?" she asked, blinking in confusion. "I mean... you seem really nice to me!"

"Yeah, and you're so handsome!" another girl gushed, leaning forward with large eyes. "Don't worry about whoever doesn't accept you!"

"That's easier said than done, you know, even if it doesn't bother me!" Saelind snapped, grumpily sinking down into her chair and folding her arms. "After all, my mother and father don't accept me, either."

Gasps of shock and sympathy erupted all around, and the girls hungrily leaned forward, waiting for her to go on.

"Why?" the first girl asked, clasping hands with another. "How could they be so cruel?"

"Well... when I was eleven, I was in an accident," Saelind somberly explained, shaking her head before letting out an internal wince. "More accurately... I was in a fire, and I got burned so badly that... the scars will never heal. It was horrible... and for the longest time, it really hurt, but then it just stopped hurting altogether and my family kinda fell apart. I'm here at Ouran because my mother sent me away... she didn't want to look at me anymore, I guess, but still! I don't care anymore!"

So saying, she folded her arms and turned up her nose like she'd been instructed to do after saying something serious.

"I see," one of the girls murmured, shaking her head in a solemn manner. "So, who are you living with now? Some relatives in Japan?"

"Oh, no," Saelind stated, turning her head and blinking in surprise. "I live by myself. I don't have any relatives in this Country since my origins are Russian."

Every single girl was tearing up and looking at her with puppy eyes: they looked ready to cry for her.

"O-o-oi," Saelind stammered, eye widening in horror; she shakily lifted her hands in a startled manner, but five pairs of eyes instantly locked onto the leather covering the fingers on her left hand. "Please, don't cry! I-I don't like drama! And... and..."

"That's so sad!" one of the girls sighed, slowly extending her own hand and clasping the leather glove. "Saelind, don't feel bad! We'll accept you no matter what! Promise!"

The black-haired girl blinked in a startled manner when four more heads nodded fervently in agreement.

"Well, t... thank you," she squeaked, face flaming bright red: in all honesty, she didn't know how to handle that one. "Um..."

"May... I take your glove off?" one of the girls asked, looking up with hesitant eyes when Saelind froze. "I'll understand if you don't want to, but..."

Saelind was about to open her mouth and say 'no' when she saw Kyouya shaking his head with a sharp expression.

"It's not... something you'd want to see..." Saelind hesitantly stammered, averting her eye when the girl took her hand again and slowly started pulling the glove off of her. Every single girl watched with mesmerized eyes as the leather slid back inch by inch, but when it was finally off, Saelind couldn't keep her shoulders from trembling so she didn't bother trying. Gasps filled the air all around. "See?! It's not pretty! It's... it's... ugly! I don't care if you hate it!"

For several moments, nothing happened... but then, an odd pressure bloomed somewhere on her wrist and Saelind turned her head.

However, she instantly froze, since the girl who'd pulled it off had kissed her hand.

Then she pulled away and looked at the stunned black-haired girl with earnest eyes.

"You're not ugly!" she stated firmly, nodding in reassurance. "Don't worry."

"Those scars are on my face, too," Saelind deadpanned in a low tone, mouth twitching when the girls froze. "My hair was styled like this to hide it."

"We still accept you!" the chubby girl exclaimed. "Come on, Saelind! Cheer up!"

"Yeah!" the four other girls chorused. "Let's talk about fun things!"

"So, where are you from?" the girl next to the plump one asked. "You said something about Russia. Is it pretty there?"

"I lived in Moscow with my parents, but it wasn't all that pretty: just very cold," Saelind mumbled. "Japan is a lot nicer than Russia, scenery-wise."

"Oh, yes, I absolutely love Spring!" another girl exclaimed. "The cherry blossoms are so beautiful around Ouran!"

Thus, the chatting began.

Saelind was so miserable and humiliated that she didn't even realize that Tamaki, Mori, and Honey had all been watching her and listening.

"Her parents sent her away after she got burned?" Tamaki wondered, setting his chin on the back of the chair. "No one accepted her?"

"Senpai, there are a lot of things about Saelind that nobody knows," Haruhi sighed, shaking her head as she passed some tea to everyone. "We can't assume we know someone right off the bat if that person hasn't ever told us anything about themselves."

"But Haru-chan, Sael-chan is always acting mean, not sad!" Honey stated, looking confused. "If nobody accepts her, why isn't she always sad?"

"Some people handle those types of things differently," the brunette explained, giving him a shrug. "People handle their burdens in different ways: some girls cry when they're not accepted... others act like it doesn't bother them... and some even distance themselves from everyone and become like Saelind: bitter, unhappy, and extremely angry. Those people are difficult to get along with, true, but they're the ones who we need to be gentle with."

"Gentle?" Tamaki asked, looking thoroughly confused by that point. "Why? If they're mean, why should we be gentle?"

"Because the difference between people who are mean just to be mean, and people who are mean to keep everyone away," Haruhi sighed, giving him a very firm and knowing expression, "is suffering. Saelind has obviously suffered a lot, and she probably doesn't want anyone to get close to her. In short, she's scared of caring about people because of how many people hurt her in the past. See?"

Shockingly, both Tamaki _and_ Honey seemed to understand what she was talking about.

However, by the end of the day, Saelind was exhausted: the girls had all left with promises to return and requests to sit with her again, so she hoped with all her might that she'd done a good job. She simply wanted to get out of this nightmare, and getting ten thousand girls to sit with her was the goal she had to achieve in order to escape: all she had to do was play the part.

"Your first day went rather well," Kyouya suddenly stated, making the girl jump with a terrified gasp; she instantly fell out of the plush chair in her attempt to get away from him, but when she stood up again he merely chuckled. "No need to act like that."

"Forgive me, but I beg to differ," Saelind shakily retorted, glaring daggers into his face. "Can I go home yet?"

"No," Kyouya stated simply, glancing at Tamaki when he hurried over in their direction. "Brace yourself."

"Huh?" Saelind asked, blinking in confusion until the blonde tackled her and lifted her into the air. "EEEK! Put me down! NOW!"

"You did so amazingly well! I'm so proud!" Tamaki squalled, happily spinning the black-haired girl in circles. "You were impressive! A truly gentlemanly tsundere!"

"Someone, help!" the girl wailed, kicking her legs and struggling to get free. "Get off! Let me go! EEK! Off! Now!"

Before she could blink, two more arms swept her out of the blonde's grasp and lifted her even higher into the air. Saelind blinked when the room slowly turned and she was once again lowered to the ground: after straightening out the clothes she'd been given, she tilted her head back and craned her neck to see Mori looking down at her. Then he merely turned and walked back over to where Honey was sitting.

"Anyway, as I was about to say," Kyouya sighed, shaking his head when Saelind glanced at him. "You can't leave because we still have to discuss next week's pool opening. It's impervious that you and Haruhi attend this meeting, since you're going to be getting in the water AND wearing bathing suits."

Both girls instantly froze where they were standing.

"What?!" Saelind and Haruhi squealed at the same time. "No way!"

"I'm afraid so," Kyouya sighed, shaking his head when the other members chuckled and looked at them approvingly. "On top of that, you're each going to be pairing up with a guest to the Host Club for the activities: she will be your partner for all of the aquatics matches. Several regular students are being allowed to attend this as well, since I feel like it may draw in more customers."

"Senpai, we're girls!" Haruhi explained, gesturing at herself and Saelind, who had frozen into a statue. "We can't wear men's bathing suits!"

"That's what shirts are for," the boy chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose. "However, based on past experience, it shouldn't be all that difficult to hide the fact that you're a woman... even with a wet shirt on. In Saelind's case, however, it might prove to be more difficult due to her... chest size."

"E-e-e-excuse me?!" Saelind squeaked, clamping her arms over her breasts. "Who the hell asked you?!"

"Nobody, of course," Kyouya sighed, scribbling something down in his file. "I've already got a plan for it, so don't worry about being discovered."

"Kyouya, I think our newest member deserves a break for today," Tamaki suddenly sighed, making everyone blink at him. "He did really well under the circumstances, so why don't we all just relax and go home?"

"As you wish," Kyouya sighed, smiling at him before he scribbled something else. "You're free to go for the day."

"Ah, Saelind?" Haruhi called, making the girl halt just as she turned. "Could you meet me at the grocery store? I have a lot of things I'll need help carrying today, so it would be a really big help if you could walk home with me!"

Without further ado, Saelind nodded and bolted for the doors, already so close to tears that she couldn't keep from breathing hard.

She had no desire to stick around after finding out that another nightmare was coming to pass.

After she'd gotten burned, she had vowed to never go to a pool or even put on a swimsuit of any variety.

Now she had no choice but to break that vow.

"This sucks!" Saelind howled, bolting for the lockers. "I hate this! Why me?!"

Nobody answered, and when all was said and done, the only thing that filled the air was a somber howl.

She was screwed.


	9. Chapter 8: Friend?

**Chapter Eight: Friend?  
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Once she'd grabbed her bag and had gotten off Ouran's massive grounds, Saelind got herself under control and headed down the street towards the grocery store. She'd already decided that she hated the Host Club, thoroughly and completely: nothing would change her views on it. However, that didn't change her reality: they had power over her, and even if she didn't like them, she wasn't stupid enough to try getting out of this the easy way.

If Kyouya Ootori thought she was going to grovel like a dog, however, he was in for one hell of a surprise.

"I'm not a dog," Saelind growled, shaking her head and touching her left lower canine with a wince. "I'm a god damn dragon. If that scheming bastard tries to take things too far, I'm going to bite the hell out of him."

It was true: she would bite him... well, metaphorically speaking.

On her way to the grocery store, Saelind walked around the corner of an overpass and a girl unexpectedly crashed into her. The momentum of the impact knocked Saelind down and sent the other girl flipping clean over her body with a startled shriek: the black-haired Russian whined after she hit the ground, muscles throbbing from the abuse her upper torso had just taken. Then she slowly crawled to all fours and looked up: Ami Kikiroshi, the Asian girl she'd offered advice to on the roof a few days ago, was patting around for her glasses since they'd flown off her face.

"Oh-no, oh-no, oh-no!" she chanted, looking completely terrified. "My glasses! They didn't break, did they?!"

Saelind glanced at the concrete beside her and saw the spectacles lying unharmed.

Without a word, she picked them up and tapped the brunette's shoulder to get her attention; when she looked up, Saelind carefully put the girl's glasses on her face and stood up, holding out her unscarred hand in a silent offer to help her up. The girl's cheeks flamed bright red when she realized who she was looking at, and for a moment she averted her eyes... but then, almost shyly, she took the proffered hand and allowed herself to be pulled up.

"Are you all right?" Saelind asked in a neutral tone, glancing down at her scraped knee. "You're bleeding."

"I'll be fine!" the girl cheerfully protested, patting her pocket. "I'm a bit of a klutz, so I always keep band-aids in my pocket."

"I see," Saelind mumbled, blinking as a wave of nausea swept over her. "I apologize for not looking where I was going."

"Same here," Ami stammered, rubbing the back of her neck; she was wearing a pair of skinny jeans that had been stylishly torn at the knees as well as a loose-fitting hooded jacket, but planted on top of her head was a fairly adorable cat-beanie with two strings that fell down below her chin. At the end of each string was a large cotton ball. "Even with my glasses on, sometimes I simply don't pay attention to where I'm going."

"Mm..." the tiny girl mumbled, nodding before she began walking away; surprisingly enough, the taller girl started jogging beside her.

"Would you mind if I kept you some company?" Ami quietly asked, smiling hopefully as she jogged. "I'm out on my after-school run, but I've already covered the distance I was supposed to. I was on my way home when I bumped into you, but I'm not exactly the kind of girl who enjoys staying inside all day."

"What you do is your decision," Saelind deadpanned, giving a noncommittal shrug before shoving her hands in her pockets; she hated the leather glove on her left hand. It was an extra precaution Kyouya had taken to prevent people from noticing her scars, but the glove was fairly uncomfortable, and she really didn't like how it felt on her skin. "I'm heading to the store, so there's really not that much to see."

"Oh, are you going shopping?" Ami quipped, beaming in a cheerful manner from behind her glasses.

"No, I'm going so I can help my annoying neighbor carry his things home," the girl muttered with a shudder. "He and his father are the kind of people you can't exactly say 'no' to... in fact, I don't even think they understand what the word _means._ I figured out pretty quickly that going along with what they ask for is easier than defying them... but still, it kind of bugs me that they never leave me alone. I'm not exactly a social butterfly, you know?"

"Well, why?" the brunette inquired, cocking her head. "I mean, you seem nice. Are they annoying? Or, do they simply ask for too much?"

"Both," Saelind snorted, rolling her eyes in dismay. "You have no idea! Ranka is a literal transvestite who asks me to help make dinner for them every single day, he's always overly loud, he's almost _obscenely_ cheerful, and he never lets me stay in my own home after I get out of Ouran. That's not even the worst part: now, his... er, _son..._ makes me to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants it. And because of a few things that happened a while ago, I can't exactly turn him down."

"Sounds tough," Ami murmured, pondering the situation with a frown; then her eyes lit up. "Wait, does that mean you're a good cook?"

"Huh? Well, um, I guess you could say that," the skinny girl carefully admitted, turning around a busy corner and wincing when she realized that the streets were starting to get crowded. "My family is from overseas... and... well, I was taught by a chef at one point, so you _could_ say I'm _decent_ at it. Not perfect... just average."

"Wow! That's awesome!" Ami squealed, jumping up and down and clapping her hands. "I've always wanted to learn how to cook, but I've never really had the talent for it! Tell me, is it really that difficult to make fancy cuisine dishes? My new mother says that becoming a chef is only for people who want to work in low-class restaurants, but I don't believe that at all!"

"She's wrong," Saelind immediately gasped, head flying up; she looked at the girl with an open mouth. "Definitely wrong: if she thinks that, I don't exactly know what to say... most of the high-class restaurants that people go to are ONLY high class because the food they make is prepared by a master chef! It's not because of the building, or the fancy decorations, or even the suits and clothing requirements! It's the person standing behind the cook stove that gives the restaurant its reputation!"

"You seem to know a lot about it," Ami noted, grinning when the girl shrank into her blazer like a turtle. "Do you have any good, easy recipes that I might be able to try? I'm a total beginner, but I really, really love making good food... plus, maybe I can win my mother over if I prove to her that some of my dreams are worthwhile. You already helped sort out a lot of things with your advice, and I can never thank you enough for that, but the two of us still butt heads now and then since we're totally different people."

"Well... um, yeah, I could probably come up with some easy dishes," Saelind reluctantly admitted, feeling abnormally awkward for some reason. "Although, a lot of the things I know how to make are European and Western... and the few Japanese dishes I _do_ know how to make generally revolve around things like Omelet rice and maybe one or two curry recipes. So... if you'd be fine with those types of recipes, I could give you quite a bit."

"Foreign recipes?! WOW!" the girl shrieked, throwing her hands into the air and startling the smaller girl into staring at her. "You have no idea how much that would mean to me, Saelind! A foreign recipe would definitely be awesome to try! Thank you so much!"

For a long moment, Saelind merely stared at her giggling face... but then, in the blink of an eye, her expression softened.

And she smiled for the first time in years.

Her frigid teal eye gentled and the iciness inside it melted... then, her soft lips tilted upwards in an almost beautiful manner.

Ami's grin of delight wiped itself clean from the shock of seeing that smile: she stared at the shorter girl with a startled expression, not even believing how beautiful her face had become with that one expression. When Saelind turned her face away and gently hugged herself, Ami covered her mouth and her eyes widened: she hadn't been expecting to see such an amazing expression being directed at her from someone as unsociable as Saelind.

For a moment, she'd looked almost angellic.

"You're welcome," the black-haired girl gruffly mumbled, hunching her shoulders and hastily picking up her pace. "I'll come up with the recipes later on tonight and give them to you on Monday. Does meeting on the rooftop at lunch sound like a good time?"

"O-o-of c-course," Ami weakly stuttered, face going bright red; she absently patted her cheeks. "Yeah, that'd be perfect!"

"I'm glad you think so," Saelind stated simply. "It's been a long time since I've taught someone how to make food."

What startled her, however, was the fact that she actually meant what she'd said: she really was glad.

"You're a girl, aren't you?" Ami suddenly asked, making Saelind's feet halt. "You... you're a girl."

"What do you mean?" Saelind stammered, eye widening in horror; she had a mental flash of Kyouya sending his private police force after her and throwing her into some dark dungeon "Eek! I'm… I'm a b-boy… okay?"

"No, you're not," Ami retorted simply, looking at her with stunned eyes. "You're a girl! I _knew_ it! So _that's _why I wasn't crushing on you!"

"What?!" Saelind squawked, staring at the girl in shock. _"Crushing_ on me?! What in the world do you mean?! I'm a guy!"

"Stop," Ami sighed, rolling her eyes before she poked Saelind's breasts; the girl instantly squeaked and clutched her chest. "I figured it out the day after you helped me. For starters, you don't have an Adam's apple. On top of that, your voice is too high, your figure isn't right, and you also forgot to tie your chest flat. You are a _girl... _but what I _don't_ get is why you're _pretending_ to be a _guy!"_

"It's complicated, and you can't tell anyone: if you do, I'll rip your tongue out!" Saelind stated savagely, glaring at Ami with an angry expression that didn't match the frightened look in her eye. "Since you've already figured it out, there's nothing I can do... so, yes, I'm a girl, but you really can't tell anyone!"

"Okay, look: what you're doing isn't my secret to tell," Ami snorted, cocking her hip. "If you want to pose as a guy, it's not my problem: plus, I think you look better the the guy's uniform than you would in the ugly buttercup-yellow Princess Pom Pom things we all have to wear."

"Wait, so you noticed how ugly those things were, too?" Saelind snorted, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought I was the only one. Nobody even realizes it."

"It's the most revolting school uniform I've ever seen," Ami sighed, looking up at the sky, "but I have to admit: I _do_ feel like a princess when I'm wearing it."

The girls also looked like princesses, too, but Saelind kept that bitter remark confined inside her head.

"Oi! Look who's here!" a male voice suddenly laughed, making the girl look up with a scowl. "It's Ami-the-Plain-Janey! Never thought I'd see a washboard like _you_ out and about after school! What got you out of the library? You on a play date with another little rich friend?"

"Shut up, Genji!" the slender girl snapped, face flaming red with anger before she self-consciously covered her chest. "Stop acting like such a jerk!"

Saelind scowled when the boy she'd incapacitated on her first day swaggered out of the crowd, joking and laughing with five of his buddies.

They all looked like a bunch of delinquents since they'd already changed out of their Ouran uniforms.

"Why should I?" Genji sneered, glancing at her with a cocky expression. "You think you're popular just because you're friends with Suoh?"

"If I were the kind of person who would _ever_ think something so conceited," Ami calmly pointed out, planting a hand on her hip, "Suoh and I wouldn't have stayed friends for eleven years, moron: he's not the kind of guy who hangs out with people like that. Which is probably why he ignores _you._"

"You think I care?" the Asian boy simpered, mocking the girl's words. "Aww... that so cute! Look, guys, she thinks I care about that! Ha!"

"Come on, Saelind... let's just get out of here," Ami muttered, glancing down at the tiny Russian girl. "These jerks aren't even worth my time."

"Oh, no way!" Genji exclaimed, eyes widening in total shock. "Dude! You're hangin' with the Monster Man?! Nasty!"

"You mean the creep who had the diseased skin?" another boy asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "That's him?!"

"Yeah, that's Monster Man! Little old MM!" Genji laughed, pointing a finger straight at the tiny girl in front of him. "He's a freak, _Ami_! I knew you had weird tastes since you're a total bookworm, but I never would have thought you'd become friends with _that_ thing!"

Saelind did nothing but stand there... she was used to this kind of treatment, so it didn't bother her as much as it should have.

"Shut up!" Ami snapped, making her twitch slightly in surprise. "You don't know anything about him _or_ me, so don't even try talking down to us! Especially since _you_ have no right to do so! You swagger everywhere with your chest puffed out, acting as though you're a genius and always at the top of your class, but I'm pretty sure that there isn't a single person _anywhere_ who _doesn't_ know that you've got the lowest grades in Ouran Academy!"

"What'd you just say?" Genji snapped, smirk flying out the window. "If you don't want your teeth busted, I suggest you shut your mouth now."

"No way, tough guy," the brunette snorted, cocking her hip with a raised eyebrow before flicking her glasses up her nose. "You were so eager to talk shit about me and Saelind, it's only fair that I do the same thing! Just because you have a fake, daddy's-boy reputation to uphold doesn't mean I'm gonna let you slander our names: real life doesn't work like that, so if you're through acting like a little girl on her period, go home and play with your dolls."

"I said to shut up!" Genji hissed, swaggering forward and leaning down towards her face in a threatening manner. "I don't care if you _are_ Suoh's friend, bitch: we're not on the Academy grounds, so I won't get in trouble if I fuck your face up. Plus, who the hell would believe your second-class family over mine? You only got into Ouran because you're an honor student like that Fujioka kid."

However, the moment he lifted his hand and tried to push her, Saelind's fingers snapped out of her sleeve and she gripped his wrist.

"Violence against women is where I draw the line," the small girl stated coldly, lifting her head with an animalistic hiss; when she looked up at the boy, however, her teal eye was sharper than a blade and her lips were drawn back, revealing the glint of her fangs. "Look, _dog,_ if you want to _bark_ at people who are better than you, I suggest you do it somewhere else. Leave her alone and back off."

"Ooh, looks like you've got a boyfriend," Genji sneered, jerking his hand out of her grasp. "He's so possessive!"

"You know, even without a romantic relationship, _all_ friends are supposed to be like that," Ami smugly pointed out, brown eyes shining with triumph. "It's kind of sad that you don't have anyone like that, Genji... it really says something about the kind of people you hang out with."

His smile turned into a glare almost immediately.

"Whatever," he sneered, turning around and storming through the crowd of adults who'd stopped to watch the scene. "Not like I care."

Saelind waited until he was gone to relax, but before she could do anything else, Ami let out a squeal and threw her arms around her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squealed, laughing loudly when the girl hissed and abruptly flailed around. "Calm down! I know you don't like being touched, I really get it, but this is my way of saying thank you! I won't ever do it again after this, I promise, but I've never felt so good! That jerk has been harassing me for months and I've never managed to make him back off! Thank yooooou! Saelind, you were totally awesome!"

"You're welcome, you're welcome!" the girl squeaked, flailing her arms in dismay. "Just don't touch me anymore! Please, get off!"

"All right," Ami laughed, letting go of her and spinning around in a gleeful circle. "He's totally wrong! You're not a monster, you're a true friend!"

Saelind's fingers froze in the middle of straightening out her blazer, and for a moment... she couldn't think.

She couldn't talk.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't even breathe.

"A... friend?" the girl finally asked, still completely frozen. "What do you mean...? Are you saying... you don't think I'm... ugly?"

"EH?! Of _course_ not!" Ami squeaked, glancing at her in shock. "Why the heck would I think something like that? Sael-chan, you're not ugly at all!"

"So, my scars..." Saelind muttered weakly, shoulders starting to shake. "You... you don't think they're... bad?"

"No, why would I?" Ami asked, frowning in total confusion. "Seriously, your scars are totally fine! They're part of who you are, right?"

"Yeah," the pale girl murmured, shrugging a little before she continued walking towards the store; it was only two blocks away. "They are."

_Friend?_ Saelind dazedly wondered, clutching her chest and lifting her eye to the clouds. _I have a friend?_

When Ami happily started chatting again, she didn't realize that Saelind was staring at the sky with the same soft expression she'd seen earlier.

The same smile that had once been able to make anyone, no matter who they were, feel safe.


	10. Chapter 9: The Bully and the Blonde

**Chapter Nine: The Bully and the Blonde  
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Honestly, there were two things that completely cemented Saelind's friendship with Ami Kikiroshi.

The first was the incident with Genji, and the second was the Attack of the Manager—the latter of which occurred the next day.

Haruhi had been kept back from school due to a serious fever, so the Host Club had gone to visit her the moment classes had ended. In truth, the black-haired girl had been left to fend for herself for once, even in class. Which was a blessing, since she really couldn't stand the obnoxiousness of the Host Club: however, instead of being left to enjoy the bliss of being alone, Ami had hesitantly tapped the table she'd sat at during lunch and practically melted into a puddle after asking if she could sit there with her.

Against her better judgement, and mostly out of pity since Ami seemed to be a nervous wreck, Saelind had agreed with a curt nod.

Which had, surprisingly, led to a series of conversations about food.

After a while, she forgot where she was and actually got immersed in the conversations, which was so rare of an occurrence that even Saelind_ herself _was kind of surprised by it. The two of them were sitting together in the Ouran cafeteria, eating their lunch while they discussed the basics of making certain dishes, when Saelind saw a clipboard-wielding girl with dyed blonde hair bearing down on them. Saelind's face instantly pulled into a scowl because she knew for a fact that the girl—Renge Houshakuji—was coming to talk to her.

Something she absolutely hated doing, anyway.

However, after a moment, she realized that the blonde girl's gaze was fixated on Ami, as well, and her expression darkened even further.

She didn't need to be a psychic to know that trouble was about to rain down on them.

Because she was from an extremely high-standing family, Renge had acquired a great deal of power—and because she was powerful, she had acquired even more popularity. It was the old chicken-and-egg conundrum adapted to the high school pecking order. As the manager of the Host Club's Decoration Committee and who the hell knew what else, Renge was in charge of executing the décor for the Club's random themes. The choosing part she did herself, but the execution was usually delegated to others—by force, if necessary.

Renge arrived at their table and stood there expectantly, clicking her ballpoint pen to indicate her orders were forthcoming.

"Okay, Miss Bookworm," she stated haughtily, looking at her papers, "I'm going to need some help with the club prep for next Tuesday's pool opening party. As you know, the theme is world gems. I need construction paper and colored foil cutouts of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and an assortment of star and moon shapes for the sky. About a hundred and fifty of each would be about enough. The materials are all in Sensei Kakavarashi's art room, so if you could, like, go ahead and stay after school today in order to get that done, that would be fabulous."

Saelind sarcastically rolled her eye upon hearing the instructions.

Renge always issued her orders the same way: she'd 'like you to go ahead and do this,' as if it were something you'd seriously been considering doing all day long anyway—and the little addendum, 'that would be fabulous,' was equally meaningless. Ami, however, huddled in on herself, and Saelind was horrified when she realized that the girl was literally going to give in.

Just as Ami was opening her mouth, the pale girl snapped her schoolbook shut and interrupted her with a sharp glare.

"Sorry, but she can't," Saelind stated in a neutral tone, glancing up at the blonde with a cold teal eye. "I apologize for the inconvenience."

Renge stared at her, temporarily at a loss for words: truthfully, she looked thoroughly confused, which was both amusing and pathetic.

"Um, excuse me?" she inquired after a moment. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that Ami can't help you out today. We're working on a Biology project together in the library after school," Saelind stoically retorted, flicking her eye to the left and watching as the stunned brunette started blinking owlishly behind her glasses. Renge let out a small laugh of amusement before glancing around to see if anyone else was witnessing this perfect moment of comedy.

"Well, that's great, but my beloved Kyouya really does need his gems and stars and moons," the blonde girl tittered, giving her a superior expression. "You're the boy who just joined the Host Club, aren't you? Well, maybe you didn't realize this yet, but I'm your Manager: I'm afraid Miss Bookworm is going to need to go ahead and help me out today."

Saelind bit back the urge to fire back a retort about where she should consider sticking her gems, moons, and stars.

"She can't," the girl stated firmly, teal eye flashing fiercely despite her calm demeanor. "She's coming to the library with me, so you'll just need to 'go ahead' and ask somebody else. Oh, and for the record? Her name is Ami—not 'Miss Bookworm'. I'd bet seven hundred dollars out of my own pocket that, as the self-proclaimed manager of the Host Club, you wouldn't like to be called 'Miss Ditzy' all the time, would you?"

"_You can't talk to me like that!"_ the girl shrieked, mouth falling open and face turning red. "My father works for the Ootori group!"

"Oh, but I can, since my rank in nobility outstrips yours," Saelind stated simply, carefully adjusting her bangs to make sure her scars were hidden before getting to her feet. "Now, if you're done, please try showing a little bit of respect towards other people by acknowledging the fact that they have names."

With that, she looked at Ami, who seemed to be both awed and impressed by her rebellious attitude. Renge, however, was so completely unaccustomed to hearing anyone say the word 'no' that she simply stood where she was with her mouth hanging open.

"What's wrong with you?!" the Host Club's manager demanded. "Are you really turning this down? Where is your school spirit?! Don't you care about the Host Club?!"

"Forgive me for reciprocating the feelings this school has towards me, but that's simply how it's going to remain," Saelind cryptically retorted, giving Renge a nonchalant stare that held no feeling whatsoever. "Just in case blondes like you really _are_ as stupid as they seem, I'll put it in dumb-people speak: I don't give a damn about this school, or its festivities, because the 'spirit' hanging around here is vile enough to make me want to vomit. Have a nice day."

"You're a jerk!" Renge hissed, looking to be on the verge of tears. "You can't do this!"

"Sorry, but I just did," Saelind snorted, standing up and hefting her bag before glancing at the brunette with a raised eyebrow. "Now... where was I? Oh, right: as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, if you really want to be able to prepare a proper European dish and make it taste authentic, you'll need to gather all of the ingredients beforehand on top of proper cookware. Shall we discuss this on our way to class?"

Ami's face practically lit up from the inside out at the question: she grinned up at her and nodded frantically before grabbing her own book bag and following her out of the cafeteria, leaving Renge standing alone by the empty lunch table. As they walked through the double doors leading to the hallway, Saelind allowed herself a secret smirk.

She didn't want to admit it, but even though she was definitely gonna be in trouble, doing that had felt pretty damn good.

"So, we're working on the Biology project together?" Ami asked hopefully, bouncing down the hallway beside her with light, dancing footsteps. "Really?"

"If you want to. It's not like we don't need to get it done anyway," Saelind snorted, raising a disinterested eyebrow as she watched the brunette twirl around yet again in delight. "I don't have to help the Host Club today, so if you want, we can start right after the last bell. Plus, you needed some third-party intervention with that irritating airhead: I didn't need to be a genius to see that you were going to give in."

"Well, thanks for the assist," Ami sighed, shaking her head, "but I'm not sure that refusing her was such a good idea."

Saelind instantly turned and peered up at her with a skeptical teal eye.

"Oh?" the pale girl drawled, folding her arms and tilting her head to the side; her hair slid away and revealed the scars on her chin, making Ami avert her eyes for a small moment. "In other words, you were just _aching_ inside to spend hours cutting out all the shapes in the Lucky Charms cereal for some Asian Barbie who doesn't normally give you the time of day, to decorate a pool party that I'm betting you have no intention of attending? There's something wrong with that picture."

"Er, well, when you put it that way…" Ami giggled, smiling a little before a frown slowly wrinkled her small nose, "but seriously, Saelind, it's not smart to make girls like Renge angry. Her father works for the Ootori company! That's not a joke!"

"Oh? Well, I'm the daughter of a Grand Duchess," Saelind deadpanned, watching with a lazy eye as Ami blinked. "That's not a joke, either."

"Still..." Ami sighed, biting her lip. "It's not smart."

"You can't be serious," Saelind deadpanned, regarding her with a disbelieving half-lidded stare. "You can't possibly stand there with a straight face and tell me that the threats from Renge and her Daddy's little minions are worth anything to you."

"Of course not," Ami replied indignantly, raising an eyebrow before she pushed her glasses up her nose. "I'm not scared of that."

"Okay, so what's the big deal?" the smaller girl inquired, trying to find the reason behind her feelings. "Renge will give us the cold shoulder, so what?"

Ami shook her head, but she still looked unconvinced: Saelind could tell that she was extremely uncomfortable, so... against her will, she hesitantly lifted her hand and almost fearfully stretched it out to her. Just before her fingers brushed against the other girl's arm, she drew her fingers back ever so slightly... but then she put her violently trembling hand on Ami's arm in an act of reassurance.

She instantly jumped and looked at Saelind in surprise.

"I thought you hated physical contact," she murmured, blinking when Saelind gave her arm an awkward pat and hastily withdrew her hand. "Didn't you?"

"Yeah, I do, but come on! Snap out of it already," the shorter girl sighed, hiding the arm she'd used to touch Ami behind her back. "There's really nothing to worry about: this is only one part of your life, and all of the things you think are important right _now_ will seem meaningless when our real lives begin. In short, this is High School, not a presidential election: forget all about the wrath of Renge and go call your family. Tell them that we're staying after school to start a Bio project together."

Something inside the girl's eyes warmed up after Saelind said this, but the girl literally almost jumped out of her skin when the brunette threw her arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Before she could think, Saelind hissed at her like a snake and tried to pull back... but by that point, she'd already let go.

When she straightened her ugly yellow princess uniform, she seemed to have found her resolve.

Okay, Saelind," Ami murmured, nodding with a smile as they began walking down the hall again. "Thank you."

However, the girl found out what Ami had been worried about later that day.

She was standing alone at her locker just before the final bell, thinking about what sorts of dishes Ami might be able to make with little difficulty as she gathered her books together. The brunette had called her step-mother earlier and she'd been given permission to stay after school. Oh, and she'd also asked Ami to 'bring her new friend home to say hello' after they were finished. Saelind didn't know how to feel about that request, but it _didn't_ make her insides comfortable at all.

In fact, she was inclined to say she didn't like the idea of meeting her family at all: she wanted to snarl just from the thought of it.

Just as she was worrying about this, a boy seemed to come out of nowhere, like an asteroid suddenly hurtling into the atmosphere and bursting into flames: Koizu Masaki—a tennis player who liked to harass people smaller than him. The athlete didn't say a word when Saelind closed her locker, only stood there with his muscular arms folded across his chest. The tiny girl took a generous amount of time closing the lock and spinning the dial, but when she couldn't think of anything else to do, she simply turned and looked up with an expectant expression.

Masaki was gazing at her with a sneer on his face, but his small brown eyes were full of venom.

Honestly, he wasn't the handsomest of Asian boys out there, but he'd spent such an enormous amount of time and money enhancing everything he had that people couldn't help admiring how he looked. In other words, Masaki might have been plain in another reality, but in this one he carried himself like the Prince of Persia. Saelind, however, wasn't going to try and initiate a conversation in the face of his open hostility; nor was she going to walk away like a coward. She was going to stand her ground—and that's what she did.

The girl merely stood there and stared right back at the tennis player, waiting to hear what he wanted to say.

However, when Masaki extended his hand and shoved her into the locker as hard as he could, Saelind hissed and bared her fangs.

The jock looked so startled by her reaction that he actually jumped away for a moment.

"If you value the movement in your fingers," Saelind stated coldly, growling deep in the back of her throat like a wild dog, "I would recommend keeping your hands off me. I _will not_ hesitate to _bite_ your stupid ass, so remember that in the future."

"Well, well, well, look who's acting tough," he stated with a smirk. "So, Monster Man, I hear you're too busy and self-important to help Renge with the Host Club's Decoration Committee. My father also works for the Ootori company: don't think you can keep it all quiet anymore."

"Keep what all quiet?" Saelind asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. "The fact that you enjoy harassing people who are smaller than you?"

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean," Masaki said nastily, a slow grin spreading across his face. "I'm talking about your situation."

Saelind stood impassively and waited for him to continue, checking her watch and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Um, hello?" she finally snorted, looking up at him with a quirked eyebrow. "I've got a life to live, and you're cutting it short by boring me."

"I've recently heard a few things about you," he chuckled nastily. "According to what I heard, your family is fucked up. You and your twin sister used to switch roles when things got stressful, didn't you? But then, a fire burned your ugly face off! Honestly, those scars are a blessing, since they masked just how nasty you looked. I also heard that there was a casualty in that fire... some random baby sitter who had Down Syndrome and couldn't even talk without slurring. Some parents you must have had: your mother is one of the richest people in the world, and yet, she chose a retard as a baby sitter."

Saelind could feel her expression changing as he spoke, but she somehow managed to keep her temper in check despite what he'd said.

However, the moment he brought _Her_ into it, Saelind's expression rapidly flashed from neutral-tempered to enraged within the span of a second. By the time he finished speaking, the girl's lips were drawn into a snarl, she was growling even more fiercely, and her black hair was standing on end. There were so many things she could have said to those insults: she could have laughed and told the loser to go knock himself out. She could have told him to go buy a brain, since his didn't seem to be working. She could have stared through him and walked right on by as though nothing had happened. But instead, she found herself paralyzed with enraged hatred, clutching her backpack and burning holes into Masaki's face with her eye.

The boy's sneer was so snide and ugly that, in that moment, he almost set off her temper.

That's when she started praying he was finished.

"If you're smart," Saelind finally stated in an extremely low tone, "you'll walk away right now. If you're not smart... you should call an ambulance right now, because you're gonna need one by the time I'm done with you."

Just as Masaki froze, Saelind heard footsteps, peals of laughter, the familiar voices of the Ouran girls.

_Lucky little bastard,_ she thought silently, letting her shoulders slump a little. _I can't do anything now. _

The group slowed down as they neared Saelind and Masaki, but the girl never took her one-eyed glare off Misaki's face. Apparently, Renge was with the group that had arrived, but she had decided to hang back: in fact, she looked kind of uncomfortable, and she didn't seem all that eager to join in. Masaki finally backed away since Saelind cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck.

The group of students looked back and forth, worried about whether or not something was unfolding.

"Hey, Renge, need any help with the decorations?" Masaki called, voice echoing up and down the tiled corridor. "I'll volunteer!"

However, the Asian girl merely turned her nose up and started walking away with a fair amount of graceful haughtiness.

"No, thank you!" she snootily called. "Only the members of the Host Club and those _associated_ with it have the right to help out!"

Saelind glared after her when the students passed by: Masaki hesitated for a moment, then rubbed his hair and trotted after them.

"Freak," he called over his shoulder. "You're nothing but talk."

"Just remember what I said about touching me," Saelind called back fiercely. "I wasn't kidding: I WILL bite you next time."

The boy twitched and his feet stumbled, but then he hurried onward. Once he was gone, Saelind whirled around and punched her locker so hard that she accidentally rent a hole in the metal. When she started bleeding, she looked at her split knuckles and sighed before she headed down to the infirmary.

_If he ever says anything about Alexandria again,_ she silently growled, shaking her head as the anger welled up, _I might just end up killing him._

And that, sadly, wasn't even a threat.

It was an unwanted promise.


	11. Chapter 10: A Synonym for Trust

**Chapter Ten: A Synonym for 'Trust'  
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Saelind was relieved to have someplace to go after Masaki's attack: it gave her something to think about, something to distract her mind from the anger of hearing him slander her family name. When she met Ami in the library like they'd planned, the black-haired girl was still fuming slightly, but she didn't say anything about to her self-proclaimed acquaintance.

Admittedly, Ami had nabbed them a great table on the second floor of the Southern Courtyard's library. Saelind herself had never been inside any of them considering several students used the libraries as their relaxation spots. However, this one was supposed to be the quietest, and on top of that, the spot they were sitting in had enormous shelves from floor to ceiling that sheltered them from the librarian and the multitudes of other students.

In short: it was a good place for two girls to work in peace and quiet.

They'd planned on working on their Biology project, of course, but it was also the very first time that Ami and Saelind had genuinely hung out together by themselves. Or in Saelind's case, to voluntarily hang out with anyone since middle school. If she was going to be honest, doing this made her extremely uncomfortable, and her anxiety levels had spiked up to the maximum.

To a person like her, the word 'Trust' was synonymous with 'Betrayal.'

In short, a tragedy in disguise.

There was also the fact that she was by no means a social butterfly. Then again... when compared to the 'friends' she used to have, there was definitely something different about Ami. The moment she'd seen the girl running for the rooftop stairs, Saelind had felt some strange emotions flood through her... gratitude, longing, and a sense of unidentifiable relief. She'd felt somewhat grateful towards the girl without even knowing why, and she was still being a lot more lenient with Ami than she ever had with other people... but this reaction was happening for reasons that she wasn't able to place.

That spark... that feeling of familiarity... it had only increased as time had passed.

And the moment the brunette had accepted her scars, she'd felt as though she'd known Ami for a very, very long time.

Saelind felt weird about it, because it was almost as though the two of them had met before, somewhere.

Just as she was pondering this, Ami caught her attention by doing a horrifyingly accurate imitation of Renge bearing down on them with her clipboard. She was soon mocking how the girl had strode towards them with decorative intent, tossing her close-cropped brown hair and tapping one finger on an imaginary clipboard. Saelind actually cracked a barely-noticeable smile by the end of her imitation, since it was actually alarmingly accurate.

"Well, that was interesting," she deadpanned, tilting her head to the side. "I'm impressed, Ami, I really am: you managed to fully impersonate a moron."

"Oh, be nice!" Ami giggled, flapping a dismissive hand. "Renge's actually really nice once you get to know her!"

"I'd rather eat nails," Saelind stated seriously, shuddering violently when Ami scoffed and quirked an eyebrow. "I hate people like that."

Ami fell silent after that, and for a moment, she did nothing but stare at Saelind with a solemn expression.

When she'd gone to get the books she'd needed, the table had been completely free of everything... but when she'd come back, several changes had been made, and it made her realize just how uncomfortable Saelind really was. This kind of treatment was obviously new for her, and somehow... Ami knew that the books Saelind had spread out on the table were subconsciously meant to be a sort of shield from everyone else. Ever since the day they'd met on the rooftop, she'd noticed that the black-haired girl watched the world with a haunted expression in her eye.

It wasn't until the previous day in History Class that Ami had seen anyone else with the same look: it was a picture in a textbook about Jewish people who had suffered untold amounts of pain and fear during World War II.

People who looked like they had lost all hope… the eyes of the forsaken.

The thought of what Saelind had gone through to give her such an awful expression made Ami want to cry.

Saelind was already scribbling a few notes down in her notebook, black hair falling across her face. Ami sat cross-legged in her chair, watching the smaller girl work, but the expression in her eye was unreadable. Saelind knew the girl was looking at her; she simply didn't know why. So, after enduring several long moments of her staring, she flicked her eye up and returned it.

"What?" Saelind asked, raising a thin black eyebrow. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Well... we're friends now, aren't we?" Ami hesitantly asked, swallowing and pushing her glasses up her nose. "We're friends, right?"

For a moment, Saelind merely stared at her in confusion, not processing the question.

Then she narrowed her eyes and her soft mouth pulled taught as the memories of everyone who'd ever turned their back on her came to mind: she was just about to spit out a venomous 'no' when something occurred to her and she froze. Everyone she'd cared about back in Russia had turned away because her face had gotten scarred up: Ami was one of the few who didn't seem to mind it all that much, and she was still asking if the two of them were friends.

In that moment, it hit her with a surprising amount of shock that the brunette was probably correct in asking... because deep down, she honestly trusted her a little.

"You know what?" Saelind deadpanned, blinking rapidly with an amazed expression on her face. "As surprised as I am to be admitting it, I think we might be."

"So, we're _real_ friends...?" Ami mumbled, twiddling her thumbs. "Not like some of the other girls in our class are with each other, right?"

"Sorry, but I'm not that shallow," Saelind drawled, arching an eyebrow as a crooked smile spread across her face. "As of right now, on my end, I wouldn't say that we're true friends yet... and with the kind of issues I have concerning trust, we might never become close like that. At the moment, however, you have a little bit of my trust... and that isn't something I give out lightly. For example, out of every moron in this school, you're probably the only person who has even a smidge of it."

"Not even Fujioka-san?" Ami asked, eyes widening in surprise behind her glasses. "I mean, I thought you two were good friends because he's always hanging out with you after school, and doesn't his dad ask you to help with chores?"

"They do, but that that doesn't mean I like them," Saelind instantly grumbled, face turning sour. "In fact, I don't like any of them. At all. I'm only hanging around them because they're forcing me to. And since Tamaki literally put himself in danger to save my life a while back, I really don't have a choice but to stay in the Host Club since Kyouya Ootori is blackmailing me."

"Oh," Ami sighed, looking down at the table with a shy expression. "So, he's that kind of person?"

"What's on your mind?" Saelind asked, quirking an eyebrow when she froze. "I can tell there's something you want to ask me, so... what is it?"

"W-w-well," Ami stammered, waving her hands as a blush tinted her cherubic cheeks, "l-lately I've been feeling like, if I needed to tell you something, or I wanted to, you know… tell you something about myself… that I could. Trust you, that is. That it wouldn't change out being friends. And, I was kind of hoping I could, if you wanted to listen... but, if you don't feel like it, that's okay, too!"

Saelind snorted and her eye softened in reluctant amusement: nobody could possibly have a secret as strange as some of her own.

"Go on," Saelind murmured, going back to jotting down her notes, "feel free to talk while we work."

"Well, okay," Ami asked grimly, coloring in an 'O' on the cover of her textbook with blue ink. "It's just… about the upcoming pool opening. You know how you saved me from Renge, and that you thought I didn't want to attend it?"

"Yes," Saelind said gently, encouraging her. "I remember that."

"Well," Ami sighed, shivering a little, "you see, I—"

However, the girl jerked to a halt and snapped her mouth shut when the two of them heard a loud thud.

Saelind's head flew up and she glanced to the right in time to see a pink face with long ears flashing out of sight.

_Wasn't that Usa-chan? _Saelind wondered, eye narrowing in a suspicious manner. _Is Honey spying on the two of us?_

"Did you hear that?" Ami asked, looking a little uncomfortable. "What was it? Is somebody watching us?"

"Something probably fell," Saelind murmured stoically, ignoring the shaking black-clad knees she could see behind a nearby shelf in favor of flipping open her Biology textbook. "Don't worry about it too much."

"It was that green book," Ami said, pointing at the green hardcover on the floor. "I think..."

"Okay, then, " the girl replied, looking at a section in the textbook on cellular division. "The green book fell out of the shelf and onto the floor."

"I'll put it back, then," Ami sighed, rolling her eyes before walking over to the stack, picking up the green book—which was surprisingly very, very heavy—and shoving it back onto the shelf. "So... anyway, as I was saying..."

"Before you say anything," Saelind deviously interrupted, glancing up at her with a sly smirk, "would you like to try some of my mother's famous Russian cake?"

"Huh?" Ami asked, looking thoroughly confused by the randomness of the question. "Your... mother's famous... wha...?"

However, when a gleeful squeal of delight unexpected split the air just behind the library shelf, Saelind's smirk widened into a savage grin. She snapped her textbook closed and watched as Honey instantly bounced around the shelves and hurried over to the library table with shining eyes. His appearance scared the hell out of Ami, but Saelind merely smiled with a twitching eyebrow.

"Famous Russian Cake?!" the blonde squealed, looking at her with a sparkling expression. "Can I have some, too, Sael-chan?! I love cake!"

"I knew it," she sighed, pressing a hand against her head. "Why are you spying on us?"

Honey gasped when he realized that he had exposed himself.

Eyes widening in mortification, he huddled down on himself and pressed his lips together.

"Tama-chan asked me to," he whined, shivering violently and hugging his rabbit. "He told me to tell you that everyone feels bad about leaving you behind!"

"I'm fine, and since there's no cake here, you can go back to visiting Haruhi," Saelind stated sourly. "Also, give him a message: I'm busy with... a... f-f-friend..."

Honey's eyes widened and he gasped in delight before glancing at Ami. Then he squealed and gleefully ran out of sight.

"What's going on?" Ami asked, looking at her with a large eye. "S-Saelind?"

"He probably followed me," Saelind muttered, rubbing her eye in frustration. "Anyway, let's just forget it: you were about to tell me something, right?"

The girl blinked and hesitantly nodded.

"I... I just wanted to know... i-if you had a partner for the pool aquatics yet," Ami sighed, tensing her shoulders. "I'm kind of nervous about doing it, but since I'm a frequent guest, I've already been recommended to participate in half of the competitions! And... and there's also... I don't know how to swim!"

When she huddled down, Saelind merely stared at her with an open mouth.

For the first time in a long time, she had been struck dumb: she didn't want to accept, but she didn't want to risk alienating someone she... might be friends with.

"I'm an Olympics level swimmer," Saelind shakily admitted, shaking her head, "so I could teach you, probably... but why the hell are you asking me? Why not go to that halfer, Tamaki? I mean, he's the one you're always requesting to sit with, right?"

"Well, yeah, but that's only because my family is employed by his: in short, my mother is one of his maids," Ami sheepishly admitted, making Saelind choke on her spleen and nearly fall out of her chair. "I really don't have a choice but to do what he asks, and since he asked me to come visit the Host Club after it was established two years ago, that's what I've been doing. I'm not really interested in the affairs of the Host Club: most of the time I just drink tea and keep Suoh company. But since I was literally the first guest the Host Club ever had, I'm kind of... you know, the first choice for the races and stuff."

"Fine," Saelind groaned, letting her head thump against the table. "Better to get paired with you than someone Kyouya or Tamaki decides to pick."

"Can I tell you a secret?" Ami asked, leaning forward and planting her chin on her hand. "I think Mori-sempai has a crush on you."

Saelind blinked three times before she processed that statement... but then, her heart nearly froze and she flew upright in an instant.

"Don't joke like that," she stated seriously, staring at the girl with a wary teal eye. "It's not even funny, for real."

"I'm not joking!" Ami retorted, giving her a serious expression. "Ever since the day he hit you in the jaw, he hasn't been able to take his eyes off you. I mean, haven't you noticed it? He stares at you in the halls, in the Host Club, when you leave... and it's such an intense stare, too! Whatever he's feeling, it obviously isn't dislike"

While she was speaking, Saelind's face slowly drained of color and she stared at the table with a terrified teal eye.

"Q-q-q-quit lying," she stated seriously. "Seriously."

"Like I said, I'm not," Ami whined, furrowing her brows. "He really does: watch him next time you two are in the same room. It's impossible to miss."

"Ugh! No! Just, no! If that's the case, I'm gonna make this a fright-fest by telling _you_ a secret about _me,"_ the girl muttered, glancing at her with a baleful expression; then, almost fearfully, she opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out to reveal her fangs. The girl instantly jumped and gasped, eyes widening in surprise. "Before you ask, no... I'm not a vampire or anything. My DNA was messed up because my mother was an idiot: because of her actions, my body is... well, somewhat deformed compared to other people. On top of that, I have some... dangerously animalistic habits."

"W-what do you mean?" Ami whispered, eyes large with shock. "Dangerously animalistic...?"

"Well, to put it simply, when I was younger, I... hung out with wild wolves, sometimes," Saelind sheepishly admitted, hunching her shoulders when the girl's mouth fell open in horror. "Yeah, yeah, I know! But still, I understand them to a limited degree, and we can even... communicate a little... due to how my mind works."

"You hung out with wolves?! That's dangerous!" Ami squealed, gripping her shoulders and shaking her back and forth. "Oh, my God! Sael-chan, my father runs a clinic for wild animals, so I know more about them than anyone else! Wolves aren't the kind of creatures you should be messing around with! They're dangerous!"

"Not for me," Saelind stated calmly, averting her teal eye. "When I was still in the earliest developmental stages of being born, my mother and father hired a scientist to inject my embryo with a mixture of snake and wolf DNA. It messed me up severely, but because of that... my scent as a human being is extremely different, and wolves remember things by smell rather than sight. That's why it's not dangerous for me to get close to them: that's why they howl back when I cry. My mind works differently than yours."

"Still, it's not safe! Please, don't do it anymore!" Ami stammered, clasping her hand; Saelind's eyes sharpened and she tried to pull away, but Ami merely pouted and gave her a firm expression. "Look, just put up with my hands for a little bit, okay?! I'm not going to spread your secrets around, but seriously, you can't do that! Wolves are deadly animals, Sael-chan! They can kill a man three times your size within a minute! "

Saelind swallowed and jerked her hand back.

"Fine," the black-haired girl muttered; then she made a funny little sound, something between a sigh and a meow. "So, what now?"

"We get back to work?" Ami suggested, looking at him in confusion. "I don't know what else to do."

In all honesty, Saelind had been expecting her to run away screaming her head off, so Ami's reaction to her secret… well, it made her feel warm.

"You're not freaked out…?" she inquired bemusedly. "Most people would be terrified of me by this point."

"Why would I be?" Ami asked, glancing up at her in surprise. "I already knew you were different in a special sort of way."

"You're the only person I've ever told about the wolves," Saelind stated quietly, looking down at her Biology book with a thoughtful expression. "Thank you."

"No problem," Ami giggled, flapping a hand with a blush. "Anyway, since someone knows we're here now, want to study at my house? My mom won't care!"

"Well, fine, but only as long as she won't... stare, or anything," Saelind hesitantly agreed, gathering her things. "In fact, could we stop by my place first so I can change into something more comfortable?"

"Of course!" Ami laughed, giggling as she put her Biology book into her backpack. "My step-mom is mostly apathetic, anyway: she won't care if you're scarred or not, and maybe, if you want to, you could show me one of your cooking recipes!"

"Ugh, fine!" Saelind groaned, rolling her eyes. "Let's just get the hell out of here already!"

Thus, the two of them headed out of the library and made their way down the prestigious halls, chatting about the basics of becoming a culinary master as they walked. Saelind and Ami had almost made it outside when an unpleasantly familiar voice rang up and down the halls.

"Saelind!" a familiar voice cried. "Hey, wait!"

The girl instantly let out a groan, since it was none other than Renge.

"What?!" the black-haired girl barked, whirling around with an irritated expression. "Can't you just leave me alone for a day?!"

"B-but... Saelind, I have to ask: are you and... Miss Ami done with your biology project?" Renge hesitantly called, pressing her hands between her breasts with pleading honey brown eyes. When she turned her head to the side, the blue ribbon that had been tied into the back of her hair gleamed. "Um, I'm having a bit of trouble getting the decorations up by myself, and it really would be nice if you could help me work on them for the pool opening! I... I also have to leave early because of a family… thing, and since all of the Host Club members are visiting Haruhi today, we really need everyone to step up to the plate right now. Please?"

"Saelind, come on," Ami murmured worriedly, gripping the girl's arm. "L-let's go."

"Please, Saelind!" Renge called in a small voice, making the pale girl's shoulders straighten. "If Kyouya were here, you would be helping us all out... right?"

When the blonde took a step toward them, the girl shook her head and looked right up at her with a fierce expression on her face.

"No!" she shouted angrily, tightening her fist on her bag strap. "So, just leave me alone already!"

"Why?! What did I ever do to upset you so much?!" Renge cried, clenching her fists and holding them by her sides. "Please! Just tell me!"

"Fine! Since you can _handle_ the truth, I'll say it clearly!" Saelind spat, hair standing on end. "I hate almost _everyone_ at this stupid school! I don't even want to be here, but because I am, I've decided to go through each day one step at a time! However, just because I'm tolerating fickle people like you and the Host Club does NOT mean we're friends! There is NOTHING between me and those inconsiderate people: not friendship, not feeling, not anything! I hate their guts, and I honestly wish the Host Club would just leave me alone, so don't start talking to me as if you know me. I don't give a damn about your stupid party, and if it weren't for Ami, I sure as hell wouldn't be participating in something that I never wanted to be a part of in the first place! So back the fuck off and leave me alone!"

And with that, she grabbed Ami's arm and literally dragged her out the door as fast as she could go.

She didn't even realize that she'd pulled the taller girl along until they were off school grounds.

"Well… that was an... intense way to deal with Renge-chan," Ami noted, glancing at her with solemn eyes. "It was a little mean, but still... it probably worked."

"It's the truth, though: I hate almost everyone at school," Saelind muttered, straightening her Ouran blazer before the two of them started walking. "You're one of the only two people who doesn't constantly piss me off, and sometimes you go even further: you can make me smile, which is something I almost never do. So... in the end, that 'almost' was in there for your sake alone, since I don't hate you."

Ami instantly shrank into her fluffy outfit like a turtle, hiding her face until only her nose and her large eyes were left showing above the cloth. However, when they arrived at Saelind's apartment, the tiny girl totally forgot Ami was there and waltzed inside. When the brunette gasped, however, she turned around to see her staring at her barren home with large eyes.

The Asian girl slowly turned around in a circle, looking at it with a horrified expression on her face.

"You've got no furniture!" she stammered, looking at the Russian girl in shock. "Did someone rob you while we were at school?!"

Saelind blinked several times... but then, a light feeling filled her stomach and her face twitched, teal eye shining from the inside out.

Before she could stop herself, she let out a gale of laughter and headed into her room, leaving behind a confused teenage girl who had no idea what to think.

"No, I didn't get robbed," Saelind giggled, opening her curtain and lifting the window to air out the dust; she didn't notice when Haruhi pulled her own curtain aside and peered into her home with a confused demeanor. Nor did she notice when several male faces joined her in the staring. "I never had any furniture to start with, Ami: I may be rich, but my parents are kind of awful, so I refused to let either of them help me. Ya know?"

"That's horrible!" Ami cried, making the smaller girl laugh yet again; after removing her Ouran blazer, she undid her tie and started unbuttoning her school shirt. Then she slid it off and undid her braid before walking over to where her favorite green hoodie had been stashed. "Why on earth would all three of you live in an apartment with nothing in it?!"

"Oh... it's only me living here," Saelind explained, making the girl fall silent. "My mother is the Grand Duchess, remember?"

"What about your dad?" Ami asked, biting her lip. "Isn't he here?"

"No, he's overseas in America somewhere," the girl sighed, shaking her head. "I don't even know where."

Once she dropped the dress slacks, the skinny girl slid her jeans on and donned her sneakers before pulling her hood up, concealing her hair and face.

Soon after, she walked through the living room and headed into the kitchen with Ami following. The girl hunched her shoulders and watched as Saelind pulled several ingredients out of her cupboards: despite not having any furniture, every cabinet was stocked with the finest foods and cooking utensils. However, Ami didn't notice that all of the Host Club members were staring right at her with their mouths hanging open: they all looked one percent disbelieving and ninety-nine percent shocked.

"What are you doing?" Ami asked, hefting her bag. "I thought you were coming here to change?"

"I did, but I also figured it would save us a shopping trip if you really wanted me to show you how to make a foreign dish," the smaller girl explained, stepping on the tips of her toes as she pulled out several spices and stuffed them into a grocery bag. "After all, you'd need authentic ingredients for it to taste right."

"Oh! I see!" Ami exclaimed, eyes widening in delight. "Do you think my Mom might end up liking whatever we make tonight?"

"Well, it depends on her tastes," Saelind explained, glancing up at the girl after her fingers paused. "What kind of food_ does_ she like? Salty? Sweet? Spicy?"

"Well, um, she really likes stuff with a lot of flavor," Ami explained, frowning as she thought about it. "She prefers a more simplistic salty taste, I think: I once heard her tell my dad that she hates Western food since their chicken has weird flavors."

"Hmm..." Saelind murmured, cocking her head; then her teal eye lit up and she hastily pulled down some noodle-mix before grabbing a few more spices. Then she opened her fridge and grabbed a few other things. "I think I know what I'm gonna teach you how to make tonight! It's pretty easy, too, so I'm sure you'll get the hang of it if you try!"

"Really?" Ami gasped, eyes widening in delight. "What is it?"

"Now _that _is a secret!" Saelind laughed, expression softening greatly when she looked up at her. "Trust me: you're in for a surprise!"

And that much was true, since she was sure Ami would adore the selection she'd chosen.

"Well, there's just one more thing I should mention before we go," Ami hesitantly giggled, rubbing the back of her neck. "I... kind of live in Suoh Tamaki's house."

And just like that, Saelind dropped everything she was holding.

"You can't be serious," she whispered, sinking to her knees when the brunette grinned in a sheepish manner. "No way!"

Yup: way.

Saelind was going to Tamaki's house: her new worst nightmare.


	12. Chapter 11: The Tamaki Residence

**Chapter Eleven: The Tamaki Residence**

Saelind was pissed.

Beyond pissed.

So pissed that steam should have been shooting out of her ears.

And the reason?

She was currently sitting in the back of a limo that was heading towards Suoh Tamaki's house.

"Don't worry, Sael-chan, you're going to be just fine," Ami murmured, giving her a soft smile. "Trust me."

"If you hadn't noticed, I'm the farthest thing from fine right now," Saelind retorted lifelessly, staring out the window. "Tamaki is the bane of my existence, and right now I'm on my way to his house. How is that okay?"

Ami didn't respond, and she instantly looked uncomfortable: Saelind closed her shimmering teal eye as the buildings flashed passed the window: she had to be ready for the mental strain that would be waiting for her, but all she could focus on was the fact that she was about to enter the home of a boy she thoroughly disliked.

In truth, the limo ride was a silent one.

The radio was on low, a soft background noise solely to keep Saelind from going crazy because of the silence.

Luckily, Tamaki's mansion was close enough to the school to not seem like a long drive.

When the limo driver halted outside the gates, Ami lowered her eyes with a sigh.

"Home sweet home!" she murmured, leaning back with a wince. "Welcome to the Tamaki residence?"

"We're here?" Saelind deadpanned, pushing herself up in the seat a little so she could attempt to stare out the window. "Really?"

"Yup, this is Suoh's 'humble' abode," Ami sighed, shrugging in embarrassment. "I live with my mother in the servant's quarters."

When the chauffeur parked the limo and killed the ignition, Saelind rolled the window down and peeked at the house in front of her. Not far behind, however, was another limo: inside it was the Host Club, as well as a flushed-cheeked, sniffling Haruhi. They were all peering through the windshield and trying to see what was going on. However, that's when Saelind's mouth popped open in shock.

"You live here?" Saelind instantly squeaked, frantically groping for the door handle: with an amazed expression, she slid out of the car and stumbled back a few steps tilted her head back to stare. "Are you serious?! Suoh Tamaki lives in a mansion?!"

"Yes," Ami admitted, slowly getting out of the limo and primly folding her hands. "I'm sure you know this already, but his family is very, very wealthy."

"Yeah, I did, but still!" Saelind whispered, shaking her head in awe and pulling her hood off. "This is almost equal to the house I grew up in!"

Ami's eyes slowly widened behind her glasses when the clouds above them suddenly shifted, bathing the the frail girl in a golden glow. Saelind's glossy black hair immediately caught the light like a mirror, and her pale skin only seemed that much whiter due to the stark contrast. The brunette raised her eyebrows in surprise when she realized something.

Because of how dark it looked, nobody had ever realized just how luscious Saelind's hair was.

"This place is a traditional Japanese manor," Ami explained, crisply nodding her head. "It's just as majestic as the ones in Kyuushi."

"Wow," the smaller girl whispered, voice coming out like a prayer as she stared up at the house. "It's something all right."

It was true: the manor was beautiful... the building was made of white brick and practically loomed over them like a castle. Huge windows glittered in the sun, and a balcony had been wrapped around the entire second _and_ third floors. There was a garage off to one side, and a pool house on the other: even though it wasn't visible, Ami began to wonder how Saelind would react when she heard about the guest manor out back.

"Anyway," Ami finally sighed, looking at the black-haired girl. "Would you like to come inside?"

"Might as well," Saelind murmured, blinking before her enraptured look smoothed over into the usual uncaring expression. "That's why we came here."

So saying, Ami hurried up the steps and unlocked the giant double doors.

"Um... one more thing? Tamaki likes to decorate," Ami sheepishly admitted, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck before she stepped inside. "Sorry."

Honestly, that much was an understatement.

Saelind was legitimately stunned to her core once she saw the manor's interior: the entryway floor was made of checkerboard tiles that had been colored a pristine black and white, and the walls were painted a toast-colored yellow brown. After a few moments of gawking at the plush furniture, intricate carvings, beautiful velvet drapes, and stained-glass windows, Saelind's attention was drawn to the walls.

Multiple pictures hung on them, which made her curious: she looked at all of the older ones first, and she was relatively amazed... but then she paused, since one of them caught her eye. Saelind tilted her head before walking over to one photo in particular. After a moment of staring, she frowned in confusion: a young Tamaki and a young Ami were standing together with a brown-haired little boy who looked about two or three.

Behind them stood four adults... two men and two women.

And yet, for some reason, both of the women's faces had been cut out of the photo at some point.

After a moment, she glanced at another photo with the same people... and then another, and another.

Saelind felt increasingly disturbed when she realized that both women had been cut completely out of every single photo.

"Ami, who are those ladies?" Saelind asked, glancing at the brunette with furrowed brows. "Why have their faces been cut out of the pictures?"

When Ami saw what she was looking at, she winced and averted her eyes.

"They bring back some bad memories, I guess," Ami mumbled, giving a little shrug that made the black-haired girl quirk an eyebrow. "The blonde one was Suoh's mother, and the brown-haired one was my birth mother. My mother died a long time ago in a horrible accident, but nobody knows what happened to the young Mistress: everyone says she simply disappeared one day."

"Oh," Saelind murmured, teal eye suddenly becoming far away as an odd emotion flickered through her. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Ami sighed, shaking her head before she glanced at the little boy in the photo. "My little brother, Ryuji, is still alive and happy: he's probably playing with a friend outside right now, so we don't have to worry about interruptions. He's always getting into trouble... even when we were little."

Saelind's heart skipped a beat and she almost remembered something.

She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt that there was a powerful connection between her family and Ami's family. Something about all of this suddenly felt very off... but the feeling of nostalgia slipped away and she was left with nothing but confusion. Ami looked away from the pictures and opened her mouth to say something, but she paused after seeing Saelind's expression. The girl looked like she had just seen a ghost, and the visible part of her face was bone white,

"Are you all right?" Ami asked, stepping forward and leaning down. "You look kind of pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Saelind snapped, defensively pulling her hood up again and shrinking into it. "Let's just start studying!"

"All right... let's got to my room," Ami sighed, shrugging a bit before heading up one of the double grand-staircases. "Follow me."

However, when they made it to the top of the stairs, the door Ami stopped in front of opened wide before she could pull it back and an elderly woman stepped through it. However, she jerked to a halt and blinked at Saelind since the girl jumped behind Ami in surprise; then she bowed her head in a respectful manner. The old lady was wearing a traditional maid outfit, her face was as creased and wrinkled as a dried apple, and her hair was completely gray. A typical grandmotherly woman with an expression that clearly said 'STERN' in bold fashion.

"Welcome: I presume _you're_ the one that our young Master told us about?" the old lady asked, slanted brown eyes flashing with distaste when she took in Saelind's somewhat grubby appearance. "_Tsk..._ Kikiroshi-san, you really _do_ have bad taste in friends._"_

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, _Oba-sama,"_ Saelind sarcastically drawled, giving the old woman an airy salute. "S'cuse me for dressing comfortably."

"Well, I never!" the woman gasped, looking distinctly ruffled and surprised. "How dare you call me an old woman!"

Ami stepped between them when sparked started flying from their eyes: she looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Miss Morikawa," the brunette sighed, lifting her hands in a soothing manner, "this is Saelind Heseroph, daughter of the Grand Duchess of Russia. This outfit is her disguise so people don't recognize her. Surely you can understand that?"

The woman in front of them paled before bowing low with her hands folded together.

"Forgive me, _Milady!_ I have been terribly rude!" the woman stated fretfully, not raising her head. "Would you please forgive me for such an atrocity?"

"Um, okay?" the tiny girl snorted, not sounding as though she really cared. "It's really no big deal. I dress the way I want because it's within my rights. You are also entitled to your own opinion: you're a maid who was _offered_ employment, not a slave who's being forced, so lift your damn head already! I'm not one of those stingy blue-bloods who constantly looks down on other people!"

The woman blinked before slowly lifting her head and staring at her with an intense frown.

"Are you really the daughter of a duchess?" she inquired, sounding extremely skeptical. "You seem rather deprived of proper... etiquette."

"I'm not deprived of anything," Saelind yawned, shrinking within her hood and flapping her arms; the ends of her long sleeves flopped around with the movement, which made the woman blink and frown even more deeply. "I know everything there is to know about high class society. Does that mean I'm going to enforce it to the point where my relaxation time becomes stressful? No. I'm pretty sure that there are moments when you let yourself become lax in how you address certain people, as well. Everyone has moments like that, but right now, this is one of mine."

"As you wish," Old Lady Morikawa murmured, pursing her lips together as though she'd swallowed a prune. "I must be going now. Please excuse me."

With that, she hurried down the stairs, not even noticing the group of spying teens who'd hidden behind some suits of armor. The Host Club was watching everything with curious eyes, and they were trying their very hardest to make sure that they didn't get caught. However, when Saelind was finally welcomed into Ami's room, the girl's teal eye snapped open wide at the marvels around her and she gawked in awe: gorgeous carvings and the finest wood made up the raw basics. Not even counting the beautiful decorations.

"Wow..." Saelind whispered, looking around at the girl's bedroom. "This is, like... every girl's dream come true."

"You think so?" Ami giggled, blushing and looking down in embarrassment. "I honestly thought you wouldn't like it all that much since... well, you know."

"Excuse me, but let's pretend I don't," the smaller girl droned, giving her a half-lidded expression. "Why would you think I wouldn't like your room?"

"Well, because it's... really, really girly?" the brunette hesitantly suggested, making the Russian quirk an eyebrow. "Oh, come on! You know what I mean!"

"So, basically," Saelind sighed, folding her arms and cocking her hip, "you're saying that you thought I wouldn't like your room because I'm not girly. Right?"

"Pretty much," Ami bluntly replied, giving a short nod. "That about sums it up."

"Meh, whatever," the smaller girl yawned, pulling her hood down yet again before she flopped down on the plush carpet. "You got a point. My tastes don't match my personality."

"Which is why everyone thinks you're a Tsundere," the taller girl groaned, smacking a hand against her forehead. "You're annoyingly and bitterly adorable."

"I'm not sure whether I should take that as a compliment or an insult," Saelind snickered, rolling her teal eye as she flipped her book open and put the ingredients for the dinner she was planning on the floor. "Anyway, how many rooms does Tamaki's house have? This room is so big that I could fit my entire apartment inside of it!"

"There are a total of seventy two bedrooms," the girl promptly replied, making the girl's already-pale face turn bone white with shock. "Not counting the eighty nine bathrooms, sixteen dining halls, five kitchens, nine leisure rooms, and all of the secret passages that wind about this place. There are about three hundred rooms and corridors, total."

"Yep... that's about as big as my old house," Saelind muttered, scribbling some notes in her school journal. "It has three hundred and eighty nine."

"I wish I could have seen it," Ami dreamily sighed, pulling her own school things out of her bag. "Russian architecture is so beautiful and unique."

"Don't make me laugh," the Russian girl snorted, rolling her eye with an extremely sour expression. "Big houses are worthless, and I honestly hate them. It figures that Tamaki's home would represent everything that bothers me, especially since he and the Host Club members are nothing but a nuisance. Big houses like this may be pretty to look at, but they're really not my thing."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Ami asked, looking up from her own textbook in surprise. "I thought you liked the way this place looked, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but that's my point: big houses are for nothing but show," Saelind bitterly retorted, hand coming to a halt as she glared at her textbook. "What's the point of living in a house with three hundred rooms if you've got nobody to share those rooms with? Being in a house like this isn't fun for me: it does nothing but bring back unneeded memories."

"I see," Ami sighed, shaking her head in dismay. "Sorry... maybe I should have chosen another place."

"Don't worry about it," Saelind muttered grumpily, scratching at her ear with her pencil. "Let's just finish the notes for the project."

Neither girl realized that the entire Host Club was listening outside the door, or even that Tamaki himself looked extremely depressed by Saelind's statement. After about an hour of sitting in silence, however, there was a commotion from outside the door and several people unexpectedly burst in and fell in a tangled heap. Saelind glanced up with a start when she saw the Host Club members getting back to their feet. However, Ami instantly twitched and got to her feet as well, slowly folding her hands and bowing her head.

"Suoh-kun, how can I help you?" she asked, looking up at the blonde boy with startled eyes. "I wasn't expecting you!"

"Oh, there's nothing I need right now, Ami-chan," he stammered, turning bright red when Saelind glared daggers into his face. "I was just..."

"Hey, Ami?" Saelind muttered, giving the girl a dark expression, "I'm going to go put the ingredients in the kitchen. Mind telling me where it is?"

"It's... down the staircase and... through the left main hall," Ami mumbled, waving her arms. "Make three lefts, a right, and then a left."

With a curt nod, Saelind stomped past Tamaki, the Twins, Mori, Honey, Haruhi, and Kyouya without so much as giving them a second glance. However, once she was out of sight, her shoulders sagged and she covered her face, feeling out of sorts. For a while, she'd thought she might have been able to get away from them for at least one full day... but apparently, no matter what she did, they would always be looking for ways to bother her. After a few minutes of sulking, the girl hefted the grocery bag and was just about to leave when something caught her eye.

A dark room with something sparkly.

When she opened the door... she found what appeared to be a beautiful stain-glass mural inside a dimly lit lounge.

After a moment, Saelind decided to take a break in there since it seemed like it was her style.

Soon after that, she was sprawled out on one of the sitting room's chairs, leisurely fiddling with one of her sharp teeth and studying her textbook. However, when she heard the footsteps and looked up, Mori was folding his tall frame into one of the chairs: Saelind's eyebrows lifted in shock, and she stared with an enormous teal eye since there was a sketchbook in his lap, he had one pencil in his hand, and there was another behind his ear. His slanted grey eyes narrowed in dismay when she stared at him.

"Don't move," he murmured quietly, tilting his head from side to side as he looked at her body. "Okay?"

"Uhhh..." Saelind whispered, staring at him with startled eyes. "O-okay?"

After a moment of feeling uncomfortable, the girl shifted slightly and decided to ignore him before returning to what she was doing. When Mori's pencil started scrawling across the notebook, Saelind hesitantly peered up at him before she realized that her hood was still down. She instantly gasped and tilted her head, regarding him with a pained expression that made his face freeze for a moment.

That expression seemed to burn itself into his retinas: then her hair slid away from her face, which only made the sight more profound.

His eyes instantly flicked downwards since Saelind pulled her hood up and hastily went back to working.

Even though she was uncomfortable, there was something in the way Mori was sketching that made him interesting to watch.

"Hey, Beanpole," she grumbled, poking her tongue out with a gleaming teal eye. "Can I talk?"

"Nhn," he vaguely murmured, glancing at her then back at the paper. "I already have what I need."

Of course. Good thing Saelind was used to people being cryptic with her.

"I still haven't decided to forgive you for hitting me, you know," Saelind stated sourly, making the skritching noise pause; Mori slowly lifted his head and regarded her with an equally blank expression. "My jaw still hurts because of what you did, and the bruise is still just as bad as the day I got it. You seriously hurt me."

For a long moment, nothing happened... but then, Mori set the pencil down and stood up, making the girl twitch and draw back.

Saelind blinked when she realized he'd crossed the carpet in order to stand in front of her... and with apprehension in her gut, she slowly looked up until she could see his face. His eyes were narrowed and he looked somewhat intimidating, which made her clamp up in fright. When he slowly leaned down and lifted his hand, Saelind's face twisted up and she abruptly flinched away with both of her eyes squeezed shut.

With a silently impulsive person like him, it was too hard to understand what he was thinking.

She honestly didn't know what to expect, aside from what had already happened... so she braced herself to get decked in the face a second time for pushing his buttons. In truth, because of how hard he'd hit her in the jaw, the only Host Club member who genuinely frightened her was Mori. She alone knew just how much muscle he had on his body: she'd felt it when he'd hit her. If he wanted to do something else, there was no way her measly Akido lessons would help her. Narrowing his eyes even further, Mori leaned closer and stared at the girl with a frown: frankly, all he was trying to do was apologize, but this wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting at all.

Her face had gone so pale that her skin was almost see-through.

Frowning, he gently set his hand on her shoulder and ignored the snarl of protest she let out: the girl's body was shaking violently.

Saelind twitched when Mori let out a choking sound and seemed to struggle with something: however, when his frustration became apparent, he stood up tall and awkwardly ruffled his hair. The tiny girl shivered when the boy's huge shadow completely obscured her: he was too enormous for his own good. It made her feel even more helpless than usual, and she hated it. However, when Mori blinked and slowly leaned down again with both arms outstretched, Saelind's small shoulders locked up and her face froze.

_Oh, God..._ the girl whimpered inside her head, squeezing her teal eyes shut in terror. _He's gonna kill me!_

The Russian girl flinched when the Asian boy grabbed her green-clad wrists, expecting him to do something violent.

However, when she was pulled clean off her feet and straight into a bear hug, time slowed down.

For a long moment, Saelind's mind went out and her fear blanketed her mind: she couldn't even let out a hiss because the shock had paralyzed her.

_Is he going to strangle me?!_ she wondered blankly, not able to form a comprehensive thought. _I can't feel what he's doing... someone... please! Get him off!  
><em>

Just as Mori opened his mouth, however, Honey's silhouette appeared in the doorway.

"I'm sorry," the giant rumbled quietly, speaking in a voice that vibrated her entire body. "I'm sorry that I lost my temper that day. I was wrong."

Saelind's visible eye widened in startled surprise: he was _apologizing?_

If that was the case, then had he really needed to go as far as touching her?!

"L-l-let me go!" Saelind squeaked, finally flailing around and struggling to get free. "If that's all you wanted to say, you should have done it without touching me! Get off!"

When he jumped and hastily set her back down, Saelind shakily dusted herself off and tried to keep her knees from buckling.

"Sorry," he wheezed, flailing his arms with a helpless expression. "Sorry."

"Whatever: just forget about it!" Saelind snapped, giving him a wide berth as she bolted out of the sitting room. "I... I'm heading for the kitchens!"

"Hn..." he acknowledged, staring at the ground once the girl was gone. "Fine."

After a moment, Mori stoically returned to the couch and started sketching again, but when Honey popped up beside him with wide brown eyes, the wild one wasn't really surprised.

"What was all that about, Takeshi?" Honey asked innocently. "I've never seen Saelind like that before! She looked ready to cry!"

"I was apologizing," the giant quietly explained, drawing on the paper with deft strokes. "It was for doing something I shouldn't have."

"What did you do?" Honey quipped, sliding onto the couch beside him and swinging his legs. "Can you tell me what you did?"

"I hit Saelind," Takeshi droned, not even letting himself think about it. "I misunderstood and hit her. On her first day."

Honey's eyes flooded with realization and he looked a little subdued, subconsciously hiding his long-healed hand.

"What'cha drawing, Takeshi?" Honey asked, leaning over his arm and peering at it. "It's been a long time since you've drawn!"

"Something broken, but very beautiful," Mori stated simply. "Nothing more."

"Oh," the blonde mumbled, blinking a few times before his stomach growled. "Well, I think I'm gonna go ask Tama-chan for some cake!"

"Don't forget to be polite," Mori stated calmly, not lifting his eyes from the paper. "Remember that."

When Honey giggled and left with his stuffed rabbit, the blonde didn't even realize that the sketch he'd asked about was already taking shape.

It was an image of a young girl with burn scars holding an eye-patch.

A girl who was looking at the world as though she were the saddest human being ever to have walked across the face of the planet.


	13. Chapter 12: Subterfuge

**Chapter Twelve: Subterfuge**

"Out of all the elements," Ami stated, brushing a finger over a brightly colored copy of the periodic table that had been spread on the floor, "Carbon and Hydrogen are the most likely to create chemical compounds. They want the stability that the noble gases have… oh, and those are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, by the way."

"I knew that," Saelind snorted, making a mental note to study those elements later; she wanted to remember them just in case they came up on another science test. "Hydrogen and carbon are the whores of the periodic table."

_"W-whores?"_ Tamaki squeaked, eyes widening in horror; everyone's heads instantly snapped up to stare at her. "Oh, Saelind-san! That's not..."

When the girl lazily glanced up, everyone was staring at her in a way that really pissed her off.

After a moment, the girl calmly pointed her mechanical pencil at Ami and fervently ignored the stunned and horrified attitudes everyone else was giving her.

"She _just said_ that they'd bond with anything, right?" Saelind demanded, cocking an amazed eyebrow when she hesitantly nodded. "Okay, then! Therefore, in my state of mind, hydrogen and carbon are the periodic table's whores. If you guys don't like it, sue me: I remember these things a little better when I can picture them as cheesy adults with bad taste and an ungodly love for Spandex."

"Well, that's one way of looking at it," Haruhi drawled, muffling a giggle with her hand. "I guess they're both whores."

"Takeshi?" Honey asked, plopping down on the carpet beside the reading giant and squeezing his rabbit. "What are 'whores?'"

"I'll tell you when you're older," Mori stated quietly, flipping the page of his book. "It's a bad thing."

"For once, I actually had a bit of a challenge," Saelind absently grumbled, closing her biology book and pulling her hood down. After almost an hour, she was done with forcing her brain to slowly melt. "Thanks, Ami: I had fun."

"I can tell," she happily replied, getting up as well. "Do you want to go make dinner, now?"

"Okay!" Saelind muttered, averting her eye with a scowl. "I think that's a good idea."

In truth, after four hours of struggling to ignore the Host Club's idiocy, Saelind was relieved to have an excuse to get out of the same room as them.

So, once Ami showed her where the kitchen was, she taught the girl how to make a simplistic culinary dish.

It went rather smoothly, too, since the clumsy brunette seemed take a large amount of care when it came to important things.

After that was done and they'd finished doing their biology reports, Saelind reluctantly told the other Host Club members about her spat with Renge, but she ignored the scoldings Tamaki gave her. She was rather glad when everything was finally done, because... well, she was tired, and she didn't want to be anywhere near Mori or Kyouya. So, when she decided to leave, she told Ami that she was heading home and the brunette escorted her to the front doors.

With a curt wave, the black-haired girl left the manor and began walking down the long driveway towards the gates.

Then Ami returned to the room and folded her hands, cheery manner vanishing and being replaced by a somewhat disheveled one.

The other club members seemed to be a bit downtrodden by the fact that Saelind had left.

"That wasn't very fun," Kaoru muttered, flopping down on Tamaki's bed and popping a potato chip into his mouth. "She left before anything good happened."

"Not to mention that she clamped up like a clam the moment we arrived," Hikaru added, flopping down as well with a sigh. "She really hates us."

"But the real question is _why_ she does!" Tamaki gushed, pressing a hand against his mouth with furrowed brows. "It's obvious that she seriously dislikes beautiful things, but she shouldn't hate them to _this_ degree! After all, beauty is meant to be shared with the world, but what is one supposed to do if someone doesn't _like_ beautiful things?"

"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, Senpai," Haruhi stated calmly, flipping through her math textbook and scribbling out some answers. "There are some people who don't share the same views as we dp: that's how the world is, you know?"

"She seemed to like how my room was Decorated," Ami stated calmly, brown eyes hidden behind the glare on her glasses. "On top of that, I'm somehow managing to fulfill your request. I'm getting closer to her like you wanted me to."

"Good work, Ami!" Tamaki laughed, spinning in delight without even realizing that everyone had frozen. "We might just be able to make her happy with this!"

Blinking rapidly, Haruhi slowly lifted her head and stared at Tamaki, not believing what she'd just heard.

"What did you say?" she asked, giving him a stunned expression. "Senpai, what are you two talking about?"

"Yeah, Boss," the twins stated simultaneously, sitting up at the same time and staring at the blonde with unblinking eyes. "What _are_ you talking about?"

"Oh, it's simple, really," Tamaki laughed, glancing at them with bright sapphire eyes. "When Ami told me about her first encounter with Saelind, I decided to meet her myself since I had trouble believing she'd gotten through to Ami so easily. I figured she was the type of person who probably didn't know how to make friends, and since all of us are happiest when we're together, I got an idea. So, with Ami's help, I decided to give Saelind a friend so we could all get close to her! See? Once she realizes that it's fun here, she'll start to like us, and she'll be a perfect Tsundere!"

When everyone looked at Ami, she had no expression on her face whatsoever: she looked unfeeling, almost like a robot.

"Tama-chan, isn't that like lying to Sael-chan?" Honey asked, glancing at Ami with a worried expression. "Is Ami-chan a real friend or not? I don't understand."

"I'll be her friend as long as Suoh asks me to," Ami stated, giving them a pleasant smile. "I'm only a maid, after all: what he asks, I cannot disobey."

And before anybody could ask anything else, Ami bowed low and left the room at a crisp pace, yellow school uniform fluttering behind her.

"See?" Tamaki cried, smiling at them in an oblivious manner. "If Ami can just get Saelind to open up, everything will fall into place!"

Haruhi swallowed and looked at the floor since everyone merely shrugged and started focusing on other things.

She didn't like this: Saelind obviously didn't know that Tamaki had asked Ami to get close to her, because if she had known, she wouldn't have set foot anywhere near the brunette. After a long moment, the beautiful girl-in-disguise finally got up when the others began goofing off and used that distraction to go talk to Ami. Once she was out in the hall, she headed towards the other brunette's room with an unamused expression on her face.

Taking a breath, she knocked on the door and waited for Ami to invite her in.

"Come in," the girl called in a sing-song tone. "I just finished changing, so it's safe."

"It's only me," Haruhi stated simply, opening the door and stepping inside; she blinked when she realized that the cute girl she'd seen earlier had completely disappeared due to her change in apparel. She was now wearing some worn clothes and was relaxing on her bed with an irritated expression on her face: her glasses had been removed, and the somewhat bookish look she'd put off had vanished. "Wow... you look like a totally different person."

"So what?" Ami snorted, glancing at her with a quirked eyebrow. "I'm only living here until I graduate from school at eighteen. I can't stand living here. I never wanted to be a maid, but since my step-mother thought it would be 'good' for me, I had no choice. Now, what do you want?"

Haruhi blinked rapidly and scratched her small nose, blinking her large eyes before she sorted herself out.

"I have a question, actually," the brunette stated simply. "What do you think of Saelind?"

"Honestly?" Ami stated with a smile, flipping through her I-pod without noticing how the shorter brunette twitched. "Well, she gives extremely good advice, and I can definitely use some lessons in cooking, but... truth be told, I don't like her at all."

"Why?" Haruhi demanded, staring at her with a stunned expression. "More importantly, why the heck are you hanging out with her these days?"

"Because I'll get in trouble with my parents if I disobey Tamaki," Ami retorted, giving her a glare. "I'm his personal maid, Fujioka-san: I wouldn't be doing this if I had a choice in the matter. Saelind's extremely bitter, her attitude is appalling, and her fashion sense is pretty much non-existent. Not to mention the scars on her face are kind of disgusting: every time she smiles at me, I feel sick to my stomach."

"That's a horrible thing to say!" Haruhi choked, covering her mouth in outrage. "She's not that bad! How could you say something so cruel?!"

"Look... I really do feel sympathetic with her, and I _will_ admit that it shocked the hell out of me the first time she smiled," Ami stated simply, looking back at her I-pod with a dismayed expression, "and yes, I do admire her for being strong enough to move forward... but in the end, I simply don't like her. I mean, she has like one emotion total: pissed."

"If you hate her so much," Haruhi growled, clenching her fists with an angry expression, "why the heck are you making her think that you care about her?"

"Because Suoh told me to: third time I've said it," Ami spat, giving the shorter girl a glare. "Since I work for him, I don't have the right to say no! My mother would kick me out, and then I'd be screwed, so until he tells me to quit, I have to pretend like I'm a goody-goody for that ugly burn victim. Tamaki told me everything I needed to know in order to do my job: that's how I was able to breach her walls and get close to her. Because of how antisocial she is, I didn't even know she _was_ a girl until Tamaki told me the truth. We 'accidentally' crashed into each other because Suoh needed an excuse to get her to talk to me. Nothing more."

Haruhi Fujioka merely stood there, shaking with horror.

She wanted to leave the room so she could yell at Tamaki, to make him quit using Ami for his plans to make Saelind like them... but there was also a much heavier part of her heart that was telling her not to do anything. That painful side was screaming that she couldn't: she couldn't make him stop, because if she did, she would be the one responsible for hurting Saelind. For the first time ever, Haruhi simply didn't know what to do.

Saelind thought she had nobody: Ami had begun to worm her way through the barriers she'd put up to hide her heart. And in the end, it wouldn't be a good thing at all: it was a one-way path that would inevitably destroy a girl who'd already been broken once before. Haruhi couldn't help but remember the smiles she'd seen on Saelind's face earlier that day, the smiles that Ami had somehow managed to pull out of nowhere.

"You're a horrible person," Haruhi whispered, shaking her head and angrily storming out of the room. "I can't stand two-faced girls like you!"

Ami didn't hear her since she'd already put her headphones in.

When Haruhi returned to Tamaki's enormous room, the blonde startled her by spinning over and thrusting a paper out.

"HARUHI!" he shouted in the usual excited tone, making the girl lean away from him with a rapid set of blinks. "It's time we all decide who our partners for the swim competitions are going to be! Come and join us! All you have to do is sign your name next to one of the girls who've previously visited the Host Club!"

"Well, _this_ is an absolutely perfect development," Haruhi drawled sarcastically, letting out a sigh as she took the offered paper; after a moment of gazing at the names that had been written on it, she blinked since she saw one that had probably been a mistake: Seika Ayanokoji. "Um... Tamaki-Senpai? Princess Ayanokoji's name is on this list."

Honey nearly dropped his rabbit, Kyouya's eyes flicked up in curiosity, and the twins jumped up so quickly that they ended up falling on each other.

Mori didn't seem to care one way or the other and merely continued reading, calmly turning the page of his book.

"Of course it is," Tamaki stated softly, turning and walking over to the window with his hands folded behind his back. "Even though she was definitely in the wrong with what she did to you, I've been thinking it over: banning her from the Host Club was a little too harsh. So, if you've forgiven her for bullying you, I've decided to let her start requesting people again."

Haruhi blinked in surprise, but then her eyes softened and she smiled, since the blonde in front of her really only wanted people to be happy. It was somewhat relieving, but at the same time... extremely frustrating. He made plans without thinking them through, and sometimes he made mistakes, but in the end, he was usually thinking about what was best for everyone.

"Sure, Senpai," Haruhi murmured, shaking her head with a sigh; then, swallowing her anxiety, she even did the unthinkable and wrote her name next to Ayanokoji's, sealing herself down as the bad-tempered redhead's partner for the competitions. Then she noticed the other name that had already been signed and glanced at Kyouya, who didn't seem to be paying attention either way. "In fact, I've chosen to be her partner. Maybe I can use this as an opportunity to make things right."

"Wonderful!" Tamaki cried, whirling around and running over to her with his arms outstretched. "Oh, Daddy loves you!"

Haruhi let out a muffled squeal when she was smothered against his chest, flailing her arms for a few seconds.

"Senpai, stop!" she snapped, gasping for air once she was free. "Like I said, I've already got a dad! I don't need another one!"

"_But if you try sometime, you just mind find…_" Kaoru started to sing. "_you get what you—_"

"Nope!" Haruhi instantly interrupted, clamping her hands down over her ears. "If you start singing that song, I'm going home."

"Fine," Kaoru sighed, breaking off mid-note. "Still, we wanted to ask you something, Haruhi."

"Yeah. Where did you go earlier?" Hikaru added, giving his brother a sideways glance. "We didn't want to bother you since you seemed a little... moody."

"I, uh, had to use the bathroom," the brunette explained, rubbing her neck with a nervous grin. "Anyway, I'll try to get along with Princess Ayanokoji-san."

"Good for you, my little nerd," Tamaki cheered ecstatically. "All that's left is to finish the decorations by Tuesday, so I guess that's probably what we'll be doing,"

Once everyone had returned to what they were doing, however, Haruhi's smile faded and she stared at the only other name that had been signed.

Saelind Heseroph and Ami Kikiroshi had already been paired together.

Once again, she couldn't help but remember the smiles she'd seen that day, because in the end... Saelind was getting close to someone who would probably hurt her in the end. And she didn't like that, at all. So, after steeling herself, the brunette slowly took a deep breath and closed her eyes, making the decision to get as close to Saelind as possible. That way, at least she would know she had one other shoulder to cry on if things went south with Ami.

_I still can't believe Tamaki's forcing someone to be Saelind's friend,_ Haruhi silently murmured, looking out the window and up at the rising moon. _It's subterfuge._


	14. Chapter 13: Calm Before a Storm

**Chapter Thirteen: Calm Before a Storm**

When Saelind wearily arrived back at her apartment, there was a note taped onto her door from Ranka.

_We didn't have dinner tonight, so I'll ask Haruhi later. I hope you had fun! Haruhi sounded enthusiastic about spending time with you! -Ranka_

Furrowing her brow, the girl crumpled it up and tossed it over her shoulder.

Then she unlocked the entrance to her home, hurrying inside before shakily taking her hood off. Once she'd removed her sweatshirt, the girl slowly hung it up before turning around and examining her temporary residence. There wasn't a single photograph or painting on the walls, and the room itself was empty and neat like a hotel room. The only sign of residence was the black duffel bag that had been thrown haphazardly into the corner after she'd moved in, the clothes in her closet, and the teddy bear lying on top of her bag.

The bear had been a gift from her brother, Saelvan... and she hadn't touched it once since she'd arrived.

In fact, she hadn't even so much as checked her cell phone: probably the main reason why her mother had chosen to send a formal letter of apology. After a moment, a feeling of intense loneliness swept over her and she quietly walked into her room, small, shoe-clad feet padding silently against the seemingly ancient hardwood floors. After picking up the teddy bear, she kicked off her red and white tennis shoes and collapsed onto her dusty floor, hugging the stuffed animal close to her chest.

The week had dragged through almost agonizingly for Saelind, seeing as she'd originally had no intentions of socializing with anyone.

Then the Host Club had come along and ruined everything: her hopes of surviving high school in the shadows had been destroyed thanks to them.

"They piss me off," she muttered weakly, hugging her bear with an angry teal eye. "Inconsiderately telling people what to do... blackmailing... I hate them."

It was true: she hated them.

However, she did feel attached to one person, although how it had happened was a mystery to her.

Ami Kikiroshi was probably the only person at Ouran Academy who didn't act spoiled aside from Haruhi Fujioka, whom Saelind only put up with because she was in the same situation as herself: owing a debt and being blackmailed into posing as a guy. In spite of that, though... there was a part of Saelind that actually hated Haruhi the most, because the girl was good-looking enough to fit in with the Host Club. Then again, she was constantly reminded that since the club itself was meant for showing off beautiful people.

It wasn't Haruhi's fault that Tamaki was such a dope.

All in all, the Host Club was a headache.

_Just because they're rich and have everything they've ever wanted, they get to boss people around,_ Saelind silently muttered, rolling on her back and staring at the ceiling with a tired expression. _Plus, if what Ami said is true... that giant guy, Takeshi Morinozuka, has been acting like a perverted creeper—and since he was acting freaky earlier, I don't doubt it. _

Averting her teal eye from the bland ceiling and turning her head, the girl winced when her long hair slid across her burned flesh.

Her face was exposed now... but since nobody could see, she merely stared at the wall with solemn eyes.

After the day she'd had, Saelind didn't even have any energy left to feel angry... and in truth, her anger and bitterness was nothing more than a shield. When she'd been left alone in the hospital... when she'd been locked inside her room for months... she'd cried so much that it had damaged her already-blind eye to the point where her tear-ducts no longer formed saline. During those long days, she had been crying for someone... anyone... one person who would hold her and tell her everything would be all right... but her constant tears had been meaningless.

It didn't matter how much she'd cried.

It didn't matter how much she'd called for her mother, her father, her brother.

Her fear, her anguish, her pain... it was worthless: her family hadn't cared, and nobody who'd called themselves her friends had given her a second glance until they'd needed something. When she'd realized it, however, she'd become angry inside... so horribly angry that it made her see red... but, in turn, the anger had almost completely blotted out the anguish and suffering she'd been enduring.

It had halted the tears.

And for someone who was as emotionally frail as Saelind... being angry was much better than being broken: that's why she'd used her own anger as a shield... because it had protected her from her own pain. In fact, whenever she got the urge to cry, she refused to let herself do it normally because she needed to stay angry: so, she howled.

She howled out the pain.

And because of her messed up genetics, sometimes... wild wolves howled back.

After a moment, Saelind slowly lifted her small, puckered hand and held it in front of her eye.

She looked at the horribly wrinkled flesh and shivered a little, trying not to think too much.

She was ugly, and nothing would ever change that.

When the girl finally set her hand back down, she slowly sat up and looked at her duffel bag, where her phone and charger had been left unattended to since she'd arrived. She knew she was being stupid... nobody in her family would ever leave her messages aside from Saelvan, but he was also kind of homesick. As much as she hated her mother, she kind of missed being around the bad-tempered duchess.

So... almost hesitantly, she slid over to the bag and unzipped it before pulling the phone out.

She held it in her right hand, staring at the angry birds case with a disheveled expression.

Then, closing both of her eyes, the girl threw the phone across the room and turned her face away from it.

She knew why she was doubting herself.

Seeing Ranka and Haruhi acting so close to each other was yet another reminder of things she would never have.

Feeling bitter and depressed, the tiny girl flopped back down on the tatami mats. Rolling over with her teddy bear, she closed her eyes, planning on sleeping away the thoughts troubling her mind. If things went well, she figured that she could slowly wriggle her way out of the Host Club and transfer schools. Saelind's mind slowly faded out as sleep washed over her: tomorrow, she was hoping Ami would request to sit with her, since the girl was the only person at Ouran that she didn't completely hate.

Right around the moment that she fell asleep, Haruhi arrived home.

"Dad? I'm home!" Haruhi called, letting out a sigh as she loosened the tie around her neck. "I'll get dinner started in a few minutes."

"Welcome back, Haru-chan!" Ranka called, welcoming her with a smile. "So, how did it go?!"

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow," the girl yawned, heading off into the kitchen and pulling her apron on. "It's been a long day, so let me make dinner."

"It's only eight o'clock!" the tranny called, frowning at her when she pulled out everything she needed. "Did something happen?"

"Kind of, but it's not important," Haruhi sighed, turning the stove on and chopping up some fresh vegetables in a flurry of action. "Like I said, I'll tell you tomorrow. I need some time to think about it myself."

"If you say so, dear," Ranka murmured, giving a shrug; not long after, the hiss of cooking food filled the air, and an hour later, everything was ready, Haruhi tiredly set some plates out before glancing at an empty spot at their table. Ranka took her pause as his cue to sit down. "Thank you for the food! Oh, that reminds me... why don't you go invite Saelind-chan for dinner, too?"

"I'd be happy to go get her," Haruhi stated, turning around and heading for the front door. "I was going to do it just now, anyway."

Once she was outside, Haruhi headed down the stairs and walked over to Saelind's apartment, humming a little tune under her breath. The Japanese girl wanted to make Saelind feel genuinely welcome at Ouran Academy since nobody else seemed smart enough to breach her walls, and in spite of her bad attitude, she knew that things like this were good opportunities.

However, the brunette also knew that if Ranka had been the one to go get her—considering how oblivious her father tended to be with other people—Saelind would have probably flat-out refused the offer. When she arrived at the entrance to the black-haired girl's room, Haruhi listened for any noise on the other side of the door—but upon hearing none, she rapped gently on the wood.

"Saelind? Are you in there?" she quietly called, slowly twisting the metal knob. "_Moshi Mooooshi?_"

The old door hinges creaked when Haruhi applied some gentle pressure to push it open.

However, when her beautifully large eyes adjusted, the brunette blinked since the room had been washed in the silver light of the moon, which was shining through the curtains of her bathroom window. However, Haruhi's already gentle brown eyes practically melted into a puddle with empathetic warmth when she saw Saelind's sleeping form. The smaller girl's moon-washed skin had been bleached a pure white, and her shimmering black hair was sprawled haphazardly around her head and upper torso like a pillow of glossy satin.

She looked young, innocent, and peaceful for the first time since she'd come to Japan.

In truth, Haruhi had never seen a shred of such bliss on the small girl's face until that particular moment.

Even her smiles with Ami had seemed somewhat forced.

In an effort to preserve this image of innocence, the brunette quietly tiptoed towards the door, planning to leave Saelind to her dreams.

She didn't realize that those dreams were nightmares until the girl's voice split the air.

"No... wait…" Saelind mumbled incoherently, small hand twitching towards Haruhi. "Please... come back..."

At first, the girl froze, thinking she'd been caught... but when she finally gathered enough courage to turn around and look at her face, she saw that Saelind was still fast asleep. Haruhi blinked several times since she could hear the girl mumbling something else, but she couldn't quite understand what Saelind was saying. So, with curiosity getting the best of her, the brunette returned to her side and leaned in close to her face in the hopes of fully hearing what she was saying.

"Alex… cold…" Saelind whispered faintly, mouth trembling a little before her face relaxed. "Wet... but... and all the... no... I can't! Windows..."

She was having a dream, but from the sound of it, Haruhi doubted it was a good one. That's when Saelind twitched in her sleep and a slight moan escaped her lips. Perspiration appeared on her pale skin when she twitched a second time... but then, she slowly started to toss and turn. Haruhi's eyes widened and she covered her mouth to muffle a yelp when the smaller girl's hands abruptly flew forward and locked around her ankles. Her eyes widened when Saelind clung to her, fingers squeezing so tightly that it hurt.

Her grip was practically crushing the bones in her legs.

_Ow, ow, ow!_ Haruhi silently chanted, staring down at Saelind with frightened eyes. _What the heck is she doing?! Is she really asleep?!_

"Alex! P-Please! No, no, no! I won't let go this time, I promise!" Saelind whimpered, rapidly turning her head from side to side and tightening her finger's on Haruhi's ankles. Her anguished cries startled the brunette, and she jumped in fright when the girl tried to drag her feet out from underneath her body. When she tried to pull away, Saelind shrieked as though she were being murdered and thrashed violently. "NO! NO!"

Not knowing what to do, Haruhi tried to keep her balance while attempting to wake the girl from her nightmare.

Taking a wild look around the room as her mind scrambled for a solution that didn't involve screaming for her father, Haruhi did the unthinkable.

"Well, this is just perfect," she groaned, closing her eyes and letting the girl jerk her legs out. Saelind's muscles started shaking violently the moment she was down: however, Haruhi's eyes widened and she locked up like a stiff wooden board when the girl began dragging her across the tatami mats by the legs, grip progressively moving higher. "Uhhhh... she's probably gonna kill me!"

However, even though Haruhi prepared herself to be strangled or at the very least, _murdered..._ what came instead was a soft embrace.

She jumped when Saelind clamped down on her and pulled her large frame close enough to snuggle with, still shivering violently.

"Let's... go... together..." Saelind whimpered, making Haruhi slowly turn her head: she froze when she saw the expression on the smaller girl's face. Tears were spilling out from beneath her closed eyelids, and her entire face was contorted with pain. "We made it..."

It was in that moment that Haruhi realized with a jolt that she was witnessing the most emotion she'd ever seen on Saelind's face.

While she was awake, the girl acted angry, indifferent, and sarcastic; this was completely the opposite.

After a moment, the brunette tried to dislodge herself, but Saelind's arms tightened around her even further. When she tried again, the smaller girl's body was suddenly wracked by a small, catlike mew and tears once again began forming at the corners of her eyes; Haruhi went rigid when they began cascading down her cheeks, and suddenly, she felt an odd panic float through her.

She had absolutely no idea what to do until a mental flash of her own mother came to mind.

"Shh…" Haruhi whispered softly, trying to soothe the girl without waking her up. "Saelind, it's okay... everything is going to be all right."

The flow of crystalline droplets didn't stop.

"No…" Saelind whispered back. "Together..."

However, her violent thrashing began to cease, and she slowly curled into Haruhi's side.

"Shh… it's okay. It's okay…" Haruhi whispered, shakily lifting a hand and brushing the girl's hair away from her face; her eyes instantly widened. "Whoa..."

Saelind's hair didn't even feel like hair: some hair was soft if it was treated properly... but this girl's hair felt more like liquid satin than anything else. After a moment, she shook her head and touched her own hair before wincing internally, wondering if she should ask what conditioning products she'd used on her ebony tresses. Even though Saelind couldn't hear her, she seemed to be responding to her touch: she even leaned into the hand Haruhi was touching her with.

Which was weird, because normally, Saelind absolutely hated being touched by people.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Haruhi continued to stroke the girl's head since the simple motion seemed to have a weird calming effect on her night terrors: her heavy breathing slowly subsided and the tears finally stopped. When the girl seemed to be sleeping calmly, Haruhi nearly groaned in relief and slowly tried to slide free of the girl's grasp—but as soon as the touch was lost, she let out a small noise of protest.

Sighing, Haruhi placed her hand back where it was.

But this time, Saelind's own hand came up and she placed it atop hers in order to keep her from taking it.

"What the heck am I doing here?" Haruhi deadpanned, closing her eyes in dismay. "I have to get back to Dad."

However, feeling almost as though she were abandoning Saelind, the brunette jerked her hand away from the pale girl's scarred face and stood up.

With one last glance at the sleeping girl, she headed out the door and carefully closed it, guilt riding her conscience.

When she returned to her own apartment alone, Ranka seemed to have understood that something had happened by the look on her face. When they sat down and started eating, the heavy atmosphere hung above the dining table like a dark storm cloud ready to burst and rain down: only the wooden clicks of the chopsticks filled the silence of the room.

"So…" Ranka began after he'd swallowed the majority of his food. "How's school, Haruhi?"

"Alwight," Haruhi deadpanned, calmly speaking around a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Ranka scolded, holding his chopsticks up and waving them with a stern demeanor. "Use your manners!"

The girl glanced off to the side with sarcastic eyes and swallowed her food before looking at him normally.

"Sorry, Dad," Haruhi apologized, giving him a firm stare. "I won't do it again."

"Hey, Haru-chan, how's Saelind-chan doing?" Ranka asked after a moment, not looking up from his plate. Haruhi tensed at the question and sighed in dismay, since her father had frequently been asking about the girl's well-being. "Didn't she want to eat with us?"

"She was sleeping when I went over there," Haruhi stated, taking a drink of her water. "She looked really tired. I didn't want to wake her up."

"Ah, I see..." Ranka sighed, shaking his head. "Well, what about at school? Do you think she's fitting in?"

"Well, considering she's now a member of the Host Club... she's actually doing okay," Haruhi murmured after swallowing her food. "Although, she's still extremely antisocial: I haven't seen Saelind really talk to anyone in school aside from the teachers, and even then she only gives them a one or two-worded response. Aside from when she's answering questions and talking with the girls who request to sit with her, she really doesn't talk at all."

"I see… well," Ranka uneasily mumbled, scratching at his neck, "let's just do our best to help her open up. Deep down, I think she's a very sweet girl who deserves much better than what she was given."

"I already plan on it," Haruhi sighed, shrugging nonchalantly before she paused. "Tomorrow, the Host Club is going to be having a pool party."

"Oh?! Is that so?!" Ranka gushed, eyes lighting up with this news. "Wow, that's great, Haru-chan! I hope you have a good time!"

"I'm not very good at swimming, but I'm planning on trying my best, at the very lest" she sighed, giving a shrug as she finished her plate and grabbed her father's empty one. "I'm really, really tired, Dad... once I'm done doing the dishes, I think I'm gonna head to bed."

"Don't worry about it," Ranka sighed, getting up and planting a kiss on her cheek. "I'll take care of it, so you just go get some rest."

For a long moment, Haruhi merely stared at her father with a frown... but then her expression softened and she nodded.

After all, even with his previous mishaps concerning doing the dishes, she was too tired to care if her ended up melting the glass plates again.

Somehow, though, she had a bad feeling about the pool party Tamaki was planning on Hosting.

A feeling that she was sure involved Saelind.


	15. Chapter 14: The Nightmare Begins

**Chapter Fourteen: The Nightmare Begins  
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The following day, Saelind's head hurt badly.

She'd had a nightmare the previous night... one that had been reoccurring quite frequently ever since the fire. However, before she could so much as blink herself awake, someone started banging on her window with a vengeance. Saelind groaned and sleepily sat up, barely able to keep her eyes open. However, when the pounding persisted, she forced her body into action before her brain was fully awake and groggily stumbled over to the window.

"Come on, Saelind!" a muffled voice cried, accompanying the pounding with a frantic tinge. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

Just as Saelind slid her window open, however, something heavy hit her directly between the eyes.

"GAH!" the tiny girl yelped, stumbling backwards and tripping over her teddy bear; she landed flat on her back with both hands pressed against her skull, rolling around in pain; Haruhi instantly gasped and stopped swinging her broom, eyes wide with horror. A tired whine soon met her ears. "Ow... that HURT! What the hell _was_ that?!"

"Um..." Haruhi stammered, staring at the empty window with a blank expression, "my broom?"

"Your _broom?"_ Saelind groggily asked, feeling somewhat out of it as she stood back up. "Ugh... why the hell did you wake me up like that? It seriously _hurt, _God dammit!"

"No time to complain!" Haruhi shouted, dropping the broom and running over to her dresser. "We've gotta leave or we'll be late!"

"Huh?" Saelind croaked, poking her head out the window and glancing at the sky; she instantly snapped wide awake, since it was already light out. "Whoa, what the hell?! What time _is_ it?!"

"Eight thirty!" Haruhi called, frantically pulling on her dress slacks. "Go get dressed! We don't need anything added onto our debts!"

"Agh! Damn it!" Saelind growled, bolting for her closet and hastily dragging her Ouran uniform on. "I overslept!"

She flew through the process of getting her clothes on, and once she was dressed, the girl rapidly brushed her hair.

However, she didn't think of styling it until she was already out the door.

Haruhi was waiting for her near the stairs, something Saelind was confused about, but let go since they were both extremely late.

"Come on!" Haruhi shouted, waving the smaller girl on with enormous eyes. "Hurry! Hurry up!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Saelind snapped, giving the girl a glare even as she struggled to part her long hair; she still needed a way to keep her scars hidden from everyone. "Stop worrying about me and keep running!"

"Okay, fine, but just hurry!" the brunette panted, clutching her bag and pumping her arms as she ran. "We really can't be late for any classes at Ouran Academy, Saelind! Unlike normal schools, the teachers consider it to be as bad as a suspension! Five tardies could get an honor student suspended for three days, so we need to hurry!"

"I GET IT!" Saelind screeched, giving up on her hair and flailing her arms. "SHUT UP ALREADY! I'm coming!"

Not even caring that her tresses were blown away from her eyes for once, the girl angrily put everything she had into sprinting towards Ouran Academy. In truth, she figured she could style her hair once she arrived: it would have to wait until then, though, especially since she couldn't do it properly while she was moving.

Saelind and Haruhi made on the school grounds just as the first warning bell rang.

"Ack! We're not gonna make it!" Haruhi wailed, slowing down to catch her breath; Saelind's eyebrow twitched and she let out a growl before speeding up, snatching the brunette's arm as she passed by. "EH?! H-hey, let go! Waaaah! W-what are you doing?!"

"SHUT UP!" Saelind spat, tearing into the school building with the girl practically flying behind her. "You woke me up by hitting me in the face with a _broom,_ you won't even close your mouth long enough for me to focus on getting to school, and you've annoyed the hell out of me! I swear to God, If you give up after doing all of that to me, I will KILL you, Haruhi! Now shut the fuck up and _run_ so I can temporarily forget that I'm TOUCHING you! Okay?! Shut it!"

Haruhi immediately shut her mouth and did as she was told, since in truth, it almost seemed as though Saelind were helping her.

Also... despite her small size, the two of them were practically flying towards their classroom.

When Saelind skidded to a halt in front of the door and jerked the brunette to a halt as well, she jerked her hand off of Haruhi's arm and took a few breaths before slamming the door open and stomping inside. Her hand was twitching and she had already started rubbing it, but she didn't notice that everyone had turned to stare at her face until she was sitting down.

"His face!" a boy whispered, slowly covering his mouth with a revolted expression. "Oh, my God... look at his face!"

Saelind immediately froze, teal eye widening with a jolt.

"What?" she whispered, not comprehending what she'd just heard. "Wait..."

For a moment, she tried to process why everyone was staring at her, but then she gasped and her hand flew up to the left side of her head: when she felt around with her unburned hand, the blood completely drained out of her face and she turned bone white. She'd forgotten to stop and style her hair, which meant that her scars had been exposed.

The world around her seemed to fade out and the panic slammed into her.

She could feel everyone's eyes... their judgement.

Saelind's heart skipped several beats when the faces around her seemed to distort and merge, becoming sinister.

"Nasty," another boy whispered, making several of the girls in the room huddle down. "No wonder his hair is so long."

"That's why he always wore that sweatshirt!" a third boy exclaimed. "Whoa!"

"Stop staring!" Saelind shrieked, covering her face with both arms and shielding her scars with her hair. "Don't look at me! Stop it!"

The murmurs in the room died down for a long moment... but then a familiar voice broke the silence.

"See?" Genji Momozono sneered from the doorway, drawing everyone's attention. "I told you all: he really is a Monster!"

"No, I'm not!" Saelind snapped, shaking her head without lowering her arms. "I'm not a monster! If anyone is, it's you!"

"Says the creep who's hiding his face," Genji chuckled, making Saelind grit her teeth behind her arms. "Admit it: you're a monster."

"Sorry, but he's really not," Kaoru and Hikaru finally drawled, standing up at the same time and slowly prowling around Saelind's desk like vultures with a choreography fetish; the girl twitched when she heard them stop behind her, and after a moment, she glanced over her shoulder to see them leaning against each other with cocky grins. "His temper is diabolical and yeah, he's got a few battle scars, but who really cares?"

"Are you really sticking up for that freak?" Genji scoffed, mouth falling open in surprise. "Really? You guys support good looks: he's ugly!"

"How could you say something like that?" Haruhi stoically demanded, staring at the startled boy with a quirked eyebrow. "Saelind Heseroph may be many things, but trust me, a monster isn't one... and really, neither is ugly."

"Haruhi and the twins are right," Renge sneered, checking her nails before glaring at the boy with a hard flick of her eyes. "I don't really like him, but he's a member of our Host Club, and I won't tolerate outsiders insulting him. Frankly, even _with_ his burn scars, he was considered beautiful enough to be accepted into the club, which actually makes him more capable than you. After all, I remember seeing your name a few months ago on an applications list from the previous year."

"Yeah, and Saelind-chan really is a lot nicer than you!" Mimi, a girl who sometimes frequented the Host Club, ranted. "He's quiet and kind of snappish, and yeah, he does seem kinda creepy now and then with some of his... habits... but, he's still nice!"

"Whatever," Genji finally growled, stalking out of the doorway. "Fine: defend the freak if you want to. No skin off my nose."

Once he was gone, Kaoru and Hikaru simultaneously swapped places: the former stepped in front of Saelind and flawlessly pulled a comb out of his pocket while the latter skillfully began braiding the girl's ebony tresses. Saelind flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting with gritted teeth and trying her hardest not to snap at them with her teeth. However, when they finally stepped away, her bangs had once again been braided over her eye and looped beneath her ear.

Saelind swallowed and glared off to the side when they stepped around to the front, reluctantly knowing she had to do the unthinkable.

"Thank you," she muttered, not looking up at them. "For doing that, and... for fixing... my hair."

"Anytime!" the twins chirped simultaneously, leaning down and giving her a grin; Saelind instantly leaned away, eye widening with a flash of angry wariness. "So, does this mean you've stopped hating the two of us?"

Saelind blinked, but then her glare slid into a reluctant smirk.

"Not on your life," she stated simply, giving them a lofty expression. "Just because I'm grateful doesn't mean we're friends."

Several girls gasped and immediately leaned forward with large eyes.

"How could you not like Hikaru and Koaru?!" one of them squealed, glancing at the others to see them nodding. "Their love is so... so... oh, it's something, all right! Beautiful... glamorous... I'd kill to be in your shoes!"

"Mmm-hmmm!" the other girls chorused, nodding at the same time. "It's true!"

"Are you talking about the creepy incestuous stunts they pull?" Saelind deadpanned, nose crinkling up in disgust. "Um... ew."

"Ew?!" another girl squalled, leaning forward and forcing the girl to jerk back even further. "How could you say EW?! It's so BEAUTIFUL! AND ROMANTIC! AND... AND..."

"Utterly revolting and creepy?" Saelind unhelpfully finished, glancing at the twins to see them playing up the moment by looking as though they were honestly hurt by her words. Kaoru was leaning into Hikaru's chest and the latter was holding him, both looking like identical examples of woeful hurt. "Ugh... see what I mean? Brothers shouldn't be doing stuff like that!"

"Oh?" another girl demanded, smugly folding her arms. "And what do you know?!"

Saelind's answer was instantaneous.

"It's common morality," Saelind snapped, folding her arms and skulking down into her chair with a severe frown. "I mean, come on! if those wannabe gingers really _are_ interested in each other, there's no way in hell you'll ever get a shot at romance with _either one_ of of them... and frankly, I don't know what you find so appealing about that."

It was as though a bolt of lightning swept through every single girl: a ringing noise filled the air as they all whited out, seeming to be eroding away. Kaoru and Hikaru seemed uncertain of what to do, as well, since every single girl was staring off at nothing with beady eyes exactly like Tamaki had when he'd found out Saelind's secret, and also during Haruhi's first physical examination. However, before anything else could be said, the teacher walked in and everyone took their seats.

Throughout the day, Saelind couldn't help but feel tired... and during her last hour, a particularly loud thunk suddenly echoed throughout the silence of her classroom. Haruhi glanced up from her textbook to peer at the long-haired girl sitting in the back of the room before letting out a sigh and glancing off to the side with dismayed eyes. Haruhi shook her head and looked back down at her book, ignoring the sound of their English teacher, Miss Onslow, jabbering away about something she'd already completed. However, the brunette didn't notice that the room had gone completely silent until Miss Onslow was standing not too far away from her.

"Excuse me, young man," she said calmly. "Could you please wake up?"

Haruhi glanced up again, but when she saw that the woman was actually talking to Saelind: she paused for a second and watched with curious brown eyes: there wasn't an answer from the Russian girl, only a little shuffling as Saelind repositioned herself on the desk. Miss Onslow sighed, looking around like one of them was going to help her.

The young woman eventually placed a hand on Saelind's back, but the second she touched her, the black-haired girl instantly jumped out of her seat with a gasp and whirled around. Her teal eye was darting around madly: it looked like she was waiting for someone to attack her.

"What on earth?!" Mrs. Onslow squawked, jumping away from her with both hands raised. "Are you all right?!"

After a moment of blinking herself awake, Saelind glanced around and realized she was standing several steps back from her desk.

She was still in the middle of class.

She internally rolled her eyes when Mrs. Onslow strode towards her again: she usually had no problems getting along with her teachers, but for some reason... this one absolutely hated her. No matter how accommodating and subservient she tried to be, Mamrie Onslow remained antagonistic towards her.

The teacher tapped on the desk with the corner of her textbook.

"I can accept the fact that some students will try to steal a few winks in class every now and then, but it's still unacceptable," the woman stated haughtily, giving Saelind an expression that made her want to bare her fangs. "Will you bring a pillow to school next time? I'd just hate to think that our uncomfortable desks should cause you any distress. Silly me, believing honor students should sleep at home... but then again, if you find your classes to be so boring, why show up at all?"

"Look, I'm sorry," Saelind muttered, shakily folding her arms across her chest and letting out a huff of irritation. "I finished the work you handed out, so I put my head down since I have a bit of a headache... I never meant to fall asleep."

"Perhaps," the woman retorted, narrowing her eyes, "or perhaps you're simply too _busy_ at night to get any sleep. Are you the kind of young man who stays out at all hours?"

"Not at all," the black-haired girl explained, evenly meeting the woman's gaze; all manner of anger had left her eyes the moment Mrs. Onslow had spoken. "However, even if I was, that wouldn't be any of your business. Before you get mad, let me just make something clear: if you _ever_ step beyond the boundaries of a teacher and student by making assumptions about my personal life, you can expect me to do the same, Ma'am. I already know that you're not _required_ to teach me, but that doesn't give you the right to talk down to me: I'm not a child."

For a moment, the woman actually blinked in surprise before staring at her large teal eye.

"Is that so? Well, what about your eyes?" the woman muttered, scowling in anger. "Are they_ naturally_ that color?"

"Yes, actually: these are the color they've been since I was born," Saelind politely responded, then pulled a strand of her thigh-length hair from behind her and held it in front of the woman's eyes with a calm demeanor. "This is also my natural hair-length _and_ color: I'm not fond of extensions since they're too easy to rip out."

"You still can't put your head down in class," the woman retorted, folding her arms when the students stared. "If you finished your work in this class, you should try working on any work you've got in your other classes."

"I've finished _all_ of my required work, in this class _and_ out of it, so by all rights I'm allowed to put my head down," the dark-haired girl calmly retorted, keeping her voice neutral and polite. "At the moment, there is literally _nothing_ for me to do."

"Very well," Mrs. Onslow retorted firmly, straightening up and imperiously pointing at the board. "Then you can definitely tell me the answer to the question on the board. If you actually did the work like you said, you _should_ know the answer. Am I correct?"

After taking a glance at it, the black-haired girl flipped her notebook open and pointedly read the answer she had scribbled down a few minutes ago. Then she shot a quick glance at the teacher, but the woman appeared far from satisfied. Instead, she glared at Saelind for a long moment, almost as if she were thinking about doing something a teacher shouldn't; then the enormous clock tower bell began to ring, and everyone gathered their things up.

When Mrs. Onslow swept back to her desk, Saelind sank back into her chair with a soft sigh of relief.

She hated being the center of attention.

However, her bliss was soon over since Kyouya, Honey, Mori, and Tamaki all showed up with varying levels of excitement on their faces. All of the girls who'd left the room had been gushing about the pool party they would be hosting that very day... because in truth, it was Tuesday, and Saelind's worst nightmare had arrived.


	16. Chapter 15: Competition Time!

**Chapter Fifteen: Competition Time!  
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"Um... S-Senpai?" Haruhi asked, looking at the swimsuit selections with nervous brown eyes. "Have you forgotten that Saelind and I are actually... _girls?"_

"Of course not, Haruhi!" Tamaki laughed, pacing back and forth before he glanced at Kyouya. "In fact, it was extremely troubling for all of us to figure out a plan to prevent everyone from figuring out that the two of you were girls! Especially since the Academy's pool is finally open now! Yes, woefully, swim classes are starting up next week, so in order to prevent any questions from arising, Kyouya came up with this brilliant plan!"

Saelind was speechless: she couldn't even believe that the Host Club really expected her to go along with such a crazy idea.

But apparently, all of them did... and it made her clamp her arms down over her breasts, shivering violently from both anxiety and rage.

Shockingly, Haruhi didn't seem to be any less mortified by their plan.

"You've gone totally insane," Saelind snarled, baring her teeth and backing away from the table with the swimsuits; she froze when she bumped into Mori's stomach by accident, then leapt forward again with a startled squeak. "No way! You are NOT getting me into one of those things! I'll put on a T-shirt or something, but there's no way in hell I'm wearing it! That's final!"

"It's a little extreme," Haruhi weakly agreed, self-consciously covering her own chest. "We're girls, Senpai... it's not normal for us to go topless."

"But that's the beauty of it!" Tamaki laughed, glancing at the other boys to see nodding heads all around. "You won't be topless at all! It'll only look like it!"

"You are _insane!"_ Saelind screeched, clutching her hair with an enraged teal eye. "Topless is topless! It doesn't matter if we put those... things on!"

"Technically, you _could_ consider them to be skintight rubber shirts if you wanted to," Kyouya slyly intervened, looking up with a calm flick of his eyes. "Just put them on. I spent a large amount of money having them custom-made for the two of you, so the least you could do is humor us. I even had the one for Saelind specially designed to mold into the shape of her scars after she puts it on."

"You what?!" the girl cried, goggling at the glasses-wearing youth. "NO! No way in hell!"

"Saelind, we might not have a choice." Haruhi mumbled uncomfortably, glancing at the rubbery articles of clothing in front of them. "Let's just put them on."

"Yeah," the twins simultaneously stated, stroking their chins as they slowly walked around the girls like eagles stalking their prey. "We want to see!"

"SHUT UP!" Saelind shrieked, clamping her hands over her breasts with a horrified expression. "You perverts are not getting a single look!"

"Oh, come now, this isn't so bad, right?" Kyouya quietly asked, catching the attention of the two girls since he was using _that_ tone again. You know, the one where the quiet guy is getting ready to go psycho with some sort of devious payback plan if you don't do what he wants. "Please, ladies... go get dressed: we don't have time to be wasting, since everyone is waiting on us at the pool entrance. We need to get going sooner rather than later."

"Fine," Saelind finally muttered, shivering when he glanced at her with a sharp glare that didn't match his pleasant smile. "I'll... I'll p-put it on."

"Wonderful," Tamaki cheered, clapping his hands before he grabbed a suit of his own. "Let's go change, everyone! We mustn't keep our loyal guests waiting!"

"This is so exciting, Tama-chan!" Honey exclaimed, skipping up to a baby-blue pair of swim trunks. "A real pool! Let's go get changed, Takeshi!"

"Okay," the giant muttered, stoically following the smaller boy and snatching the largest pair of trunks in sight as he passed. "I'm coming."

The twins circled around Haruhi and Saelind a few more times before stalking over to the table and snatching their own swimwear.

After they'd left, Kyouya snapped his filebook closed and walked out of the room, not hesitating to grab a deep purple pair of trunks.

Soon, the girls were left in an awkward situation, both of them staring at the door with frazzled hair.

"We might as well slide those things on," Haruhi muttered, unbuttoning her blazer and loosening her tie. "I have to admit, though, I agree with you."

"I swear to god, it's like they're purposely trying to piss me off," Saelind growled, pulling a Bruce Almighty stunt with her uniform and angrily stomping over to the swim trunks. After a moment of staring at the ugly pair of red shorts, the girl shuddered and slowly slid her underwear off before snatching the artificial chest that Kyouya had somehow gotten her. Her face paled when it flopped in her hand like real flesh. "Eeeew... what the hell is this thing made of?! It feels real! Ew, ew, ew! Don't tell me he..."

"I doubt it!" Haruhi sighed, flapping a dismissive hand before she picked up her own artificial chest and frowned. "Ew... you're right, it does feel gross. Still, Kyouya-Senpai always aims for the best stuff out there, so these things are most likely made of some random material we've never even heard of before. I doubt it's something as practical as real skin... although, the thought isn't a comforting one."

Giving a shrug, Saelind slid the thing on and wheezed when it completely flattened her breasts down like a corset would. After a few moments of adjusting the artificial chest, the black-haired girl glanced down at herself and twitched when she realized her scars were becoming visible on the front of it... almost as though it were molding against her skin like some sort of putty. When she tried to bend over and pull her swim trunks on, however, she realized with a jolt that her movements had been severely restricted.

Mostly because an agonizing pain shot through her chest-area.

"OW!" Saelind squealed, standing upright and clutching her flattened chest with shuddering shoulders. "This thing makes my boobs hurt!"

"You're telling me," Haruhi groaned, sliding her own trunks on with a wince. "Ugh... ow. This thing might keep our secret, but swimming isn't gonna be much fun with it. More like painful. Really, really painful."

"I'm gonna die," Saelind spat, smacking her face and rubbing her eyes once she'd gotten her trunks on. "This is so humiliating. Why do we have to do this?"

"Because we owe the people in the Host Club," Haruhi muttered, giving her a shrug before she pulled on a nearby T-shirt. "That's why."

"Toss me that zip-up thing," the Russian girl grunted, averting her teal eye with an intense scowl. "Even though it's not my real body, this thing still shows my scars."

When Haruhi did as she'd asked, the two of them uneasily left the music room. Saelind winced whenever she twisted her body since her breasts ached every time she moved against the rubbery thing she was wearing. When she and Haruhi finally rejoined the boys, she sighed and hung her head, since they all started talking about random stuff as usual.

However, the moment they walked outside, Saelind twitched and pulled the zip-up sweatshirt around her chest.

Within only a few minutes, everyone began to relax and have fun since the competitions weren't supposed to start until later on that afternoon: Saelind glanced around for Ami, but she didn't see her anywhere, so the girl obviously hadn't arrived yet. So, while everyone was off having fun in the water or talking with the guests of the Host Club, the dark-haired girl retreated to a shady corner and watched everyone have fun with her knees drawn up to her chin. Several of the girls who'd requested her came over to chat, and she humored them a little since Kyouya glared at her with a smile, but in truth... everyone else who noticed her did nothing but stare.

And she hated it.

So, against her better judgement, she said so out loud in spite of the five girls who were now sitting near her.

"I don't wanna do this," Saelind grumbled, leaning back against the wall and withdrawing into her hood. "I hate being at the pool..."

"Why, Sae-Kun?" one of the girls who'd requested her asked, crawling over and sitting down. "Don't you want to swim?"

No... she didn't want to swim, she wanted to go home and pretend that an annoying group called the Host Club didn't exist.

"No, I don't," Saelind retorted in a no-nonsense manner, shaking her head and peering at her with a half-hidden glare. "I hate being stared at."

"Oh... your scars?" another girl sighed, clasping both hands between her chest area. "Saelind, nobody here will judge you, I promise! Will you please take the shirt off and come have fun with everyone?"

Saelind just about bit her tongue off from the anger, but she halted when Kyouya unexpectedly shot her a fierce glare from behind a glint of his glasses.

Jerking upright, she glared right back at him until he smirked and quirked an eyebrow.

"Do I... really have to?" Saelind practically whined, shivering violently when the girls leaned forward with sympathetic and earnest eyes. "I... don't... right?"

"Please, Sae-Kun," another girl pleaded, leaning forward with a small grin. "We will not judge you! Promise!"

"It's true," the first girl stated, looking up when Saelind closed her teal eye with a sick expression. "You're you! Just break out of your shell and let it go!"

"Is there a problem over here?" Tamaki asked, swimming up to the side of the pool and looking at them with a worried expression. "Saelind, are you okay?"

"No! I'm not!" the Russian girl sulked, shivering violently. "I don't want to take my shirt off"

"Why not?" Tamaki asked, blinking as though it weren't a stupid question. "You're fine the way you are, so don't worry about what other people think."

"Easy for you to say, Mister '_People-Always-Say-I'm-Dripping-with-Good-Looks'_," Saelind muttered to herself. "Can't you just go away?"

"Sorry," Tamaki chuckled, giving the ladies a winning smile. "I'll leave you alone if you really want me to"

Saelind instantly smacked her forehead and let out a huff of air: in all honesty, the Host Club made such a big deal out of everything that it constantly drove her nuts. Pardon her for not wanting to, in all actuality, take her shirt off and run around topless. Oh, yes, it was Saelind's absolute goal in life to show off how fucked up her body was! And now, because of the blackmail they were holding over her head, she could finally check that disturbing dream off the list.

_Not,_ she grumbled silently, pouting like a two-year-old. _I hate this place so much._

"Fine," Saelind muttered, slowly standing up and walking out into the sunlight; the girls instantly gasped and cheered, clapping for her. "However, I have only one condition if I do this."

"What?" Tamaki and the girls chorused, blinking at her with curious eyes. "Tell us!"

"You have to promise not to stare at me, at all," Saelind stated firmly and loudly, making sure her voice was loud and clearly heard. "That goes for everyone present: if anybody here stares at me, I'm getting my things and going home, all right?"

Nods of agreement flew all around... and just as Ami walked out into the sunlight with a beautiful blue-eyed redhead at her side, Saelind let the hoodie fall.

Her snowy skin was illuminated by the sunlight, and her dark hair billowed around when she freed it from its braid.

Gasps erupted all around when her horrific burn scars had been revealed... but then, after a moment, Saelind jumped since a hand touched the small of her back. She bit her tongue and fought back a snarl when another hand touched her... and then another, and another, and another. Her eye slowly widened in horror when she realized that five hands were resting on her skin.

_No way..._ she silently muttered, slowly turning her head and glancing at the guests who'd requested her. _Oh, my God... what the hell are they doing?!_

In truth, all five girls had gotten up and moved forward to to stand behind her: they all looked extremely pretty since their bathing suits were of the flashy and expensive variety, and compared to someone as small, pale, and deformed as Saelind... well, let's just say that even the most unappealing girl in the group managed to look like a goddess when standing beside her.

However, in spite of that, all five girls had set a hand on her back, and all of them were smiling at the other students having fun in the pool.

"See, Sae-Kun?" one of the girls asked, finally removing her hand. "It's not so bad. Nobody is staring, right?"

It was true: after giving her scars an extremely startled expression, most of the people had practically forgotten about them.

"Well, well, well," Hikaru suddenly drawled, stepping into view and circling around Saelind's shivering form. "Never thought we'd see you..."

"...with no shirt on," Kaoru finished, mirroring his brother's movements. "It's actually not that bad: you've got a small body, but a great figure."

"If you two don't quit doing that circling stuff," Saelind growled, shoulders tensing up when the girls squealed and backed up with several giggles, "I swear to God that I am going to pull a Bruce Lee move on you and kill your stupid asses! Quit it!"

"You won't kill us," Kaoru stated smugly. "You can't."

"Yeah," Hikaru chuckled, looping his arm through his brother's. "You happen to like us a little too much."

"I also like food, which means I _eat_ it," Saelind angrily retorted; to get her point across, she bared her extremely long fangs and snapped them together with a loud clicking noise. "Now, shut your disturbingly synchronized mouths before I use excessive force to shut them for you. Got it?"

"Come now, Saelind, you shouldn't act like that," Kyouya sighed, chuckling a little as he sat down at the edge of the pool. "You really mustn't tell the twins to be quiet... after all, you might as well be asking Mount Everest to walk to your front door so it can bow down to you."

"Hey!" Kaoru exclaimed, eyes widening in offense.

"That's mean!" Hikaru scoffed.

"We can be quiet!" the twins cried at the same time, looking extremely insulted. "We just don't like to!"

Saelind rolled her eye and sat down again with a sigh; she felt like she'd rather be eaten by a heard of squealing porcupines than go swimming with the Host Club, but at least Ami would be her partner. That thought made things a little easier for her. Speaking of Ami... when she and the redhead approached, several guys grinned like stupid idiots since both of them looked smoking hot.

"Whoa," Haruhi droned, staring at the redhead with large eyes. "Dude, I didn't even think two piece bikinis were allowed in schools!"

"Oh, Haruhi, hello," the girl stated haughtily, fluffing her luscious red hair out with a sharp smile. "It seems that since you've forgiven me, I've been allowed to come visit the Host Club again. I do feel grateful, especially since it seems I missed out on the introduction of another host."

"Hello, Ayanokoji Hime-sama," Haruhi stated respectfully, giving her a nod. "Thank you for agreeing to be my partner... I'm hoping we can start over."

Saelind quirked an eyebrow since the redhead's smile seemed so pained that it was almost a grimace: if it was anything, it definitely wasn't a happy grin.

"Yes, well, we have all afternoon to set things right," the redhead sighed, then turned her eyes on Saelind before freezing with a momentary flash of disgust on her face; however, the expression was quickly masked by sympathy. "Oh, dear... you poor little kitten. What on earth happened to you?"

"I was in a fire," Saelind deadpanned, folding her arms and tilting her head back. "Nothing more."

"Oh, you poor dear," Seika sighed, covering her mouth: her two-piece red-hot bikini didn't match her false demeanor. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you..."

"Saelind," the black-haired girl finished, closing her eye when the redhead trailed off. "Saelind Heseroph. Oh, and before you try... I don't do handshakes."

With that, she gave the girl a nod and glanced at Ami, who was smiling at her with the same grin as always.

"Hi, you," she stated sweetly, plopping down beside Saelind when the girl sat down; after a moment, she glanced at the black-haired girl's flat chest and stared with a startled expression. "Whoa... don't tell me that's your real chest."

"No," Saelind hissed, giving her a sulking pout. "Ami, my boobs may be small, but they're definitely not flat as a washboard!"

"Then how?" the girl whispered back, taking her glasses off with a stunned expression. "It looks real to me!"

"It's a corset-thing that Kyouya ordered," the Russian girl explained, giving a small shrug. "It's made of some weird substance that molded to my skin."

"Ew," Ami muttered, shivering a little. "I hope you're not insulted by the fact that I find that horribly revolting."

"Not at all," Saelind snorted, rolling her visible teal eye. "I said the same thing when I found out I had to put the damn thing on."

For a long moment, the two of them merely sat side by side and watched the others swim for a while: Haruhi was talking with Seika about the upcoming competition and explaining certain things, Tamaki was being fawned over by a gaggle of giggling girls like always, Kyouya was... well, shockingly enough, _flexing_ his _biceps_ for a few of his fans, the twins were doing their best at entertaining the ladies with more creepy brother stories, Honey was paddling around in the pool with a floaty-tube, and Mori...

Saelind froze, eye widening and face draining of color.

Then, of it's own accord, her hand snatched Ami's and squeezed.

"Eh?!" Ami squeaked, glancing down at her hand before she looked up at Saelin'd frightened face. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"He's looking right at me," Saelind whined, mouth trembling in fear. "Dude, why is he looking at me like that?!"

"Huh? Who are you talking about?" the brunette asked, putting her glasses back on and peering in the direction the smaller girl nodded to. "Oh, him? He does this all the time, exactly like I told you. When he's not hanging out with his cousin, Honey, he's always staring at you."

"But _why?!" _the girl wailed quietly, shuddering at the thought. "Is he, like, a creeper or something? Why is he staring at me like that?! It's weird!"

"He likes small things," Ami stated simply, giving her a shrug. "He always has. Or maybe, he might be falling in love."

"Ew! Stop!" Saelind snapped, shooting her a death glare. "Seriously, that'll never happen! I'm a burn-victim, remember? I'm not attractive, either, so there's no reason he'd ever think like that! It has to be for some other reason..."

"I dunno," Ami drawled, tilting her head and smirking when she saw that Mori was still staring with a dazed expression. "He seems lovesick to me."

"Ugh, shut up!" the girl groaned, grabbing her hair and using it to hide her face. "It's not funny anymore! Stop reminding me of things I'll never have!"

"If you say so," the brunette sighed, rubbing her belly with a sigh; then she saw Tamaki getting up and lifting his arms. "Hmmm,.. looks like it's about to start. Are you ready? Because we've got some aquatics to pull off: I've been practicing on my own for a few days, but I'm still gonna need a foam board."

"Sounds fine to me," Saelind sighed, giving a nonchalant shrug. "Let's get busy."

"Welcome to the Host Club's Pool Opening party!" Tamaki laughed, waving his arms to catch everyone's attention. "Are you all ready to perform in the aquatics matches?! Some of our loveliest ladies are participating today, so if you're ready for this, give us a cheer!"

Saelind winced and covered her ears since every student practically screamed in excitement.

"Let the competitions..." Kaoru laughed, eyes shining mischievously as he and the other boys took their places next to their partners, "begin!"

"First up is the hard-boiled ferry challenge!" a girl happily called through the loudspeaker that Tamaki handed to her. "The point of the game is to tread water with your partner and use teamwork to keep the egg from falling off of the holder and into the water!"

"Okay, easy enough," Saelind murmured, smirking after she spotted what they were going to be doing. "We can handle this."

"You seem excited," Ami noted, giving her a grin. "Let's jump in."

So saying, she ran over to the edge and performed a beautiful jackknife: when she surfaced, she spluttered and taunted Saelind with a laugh.

"Beat that!" the brunette called, giving the smaller girl a wave. "Come on, let's see a better dive."

"Fine," Saelind called back in a simplistic tone, giving her a shrug. Then, bouncing on her toes, the girl performed a run that was similar to something a high-jumper would do before attempting a bar-hop. However, at the last second, she sprang herself into the air and spread her arms wide, performing a gorgeous swan dive. She slid beneath the surface of the pool with barely a ripple... but then, her long hair fanned out and she swam towards the surface with a small sense of exhilaration flooding through her.

When she broke the surface, people were cheering and clapping: even the members of the Host Club.

However, when she and Ami were given their egg and holder, the dark-haired girl reluctantly tied her hair back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. Then she glanced at her partner with a firm expression.

"Since I'm doing this," she stated sourly, giving the brunette a sneer, "we're playing to win."

"Sounds good to me," Ami giggled, giving her a smile that didn't touch her eyes. "Let's get going, bestie!"

Neither girl noticed the unhappy frown that Haruhi sent at the taller brunette.

However, that was also because they didn't have the time since a popping sound went off.

With a flurry of splashes and squeals of delight, everyone began a goal that held no deep meaning whatsoever.

Then again, even though being shallow was one of the Host Club's specialties... they did know how to have a lot of weirdly satisfying fun.


	17. Chapter 16: When Life Flashes

**Chapter Sixteen: When Life Flashes Behind Your Eyes...  
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Saelind's lungs were heaving: every muscle burned, and her eye was stinging from the chlorine, but she kept going because Ami was trying just as hard.

The two of them were swimming together, side by side, in an attempt to stay in first place: Honey, Mori, Tamaki, the twins, and Kyouya were all standing on the edge of the pool with their individual partners, since they'd all lost one after another in the previous competitions. However, since Saelind, Ami, Seika, Haruhi, and another regular-student team were still winning the competitions, the members of the Host Club didn't exactly know who to root for specifically. So most of their cheers consisted of vague things like 'you can do it!' and 'go, go, go!'.

"Come on, guys, you can do it!" Honey gleefully cried, tossing his fists into the air. "You can win this! Go for it!"

Saelind would have snapped a retort had she not been so intent on staying in the damn race: she and Ami were currently doing the second-to last competition, which was a one-legged swim race. They had been doing things like this for so long that the sky was beginning to turn orange. However, unlike the others in the tournament, the Russian girl wasn't gonna give up: she'd been forced to join, so she was gonna win this fairly no matter what.

And those were no idle beliefs: she and Ami were had come in first place in all of the competitions aside from the first two... and even now, they were in first, since the two of them were the only team doing a difficult swim style. The black-haired girl kicked her scarred leg and flopped with the motion of the water until she felt like her spine was about to snap: doing the butterfly was extremely hard with the artificial chest on, not even counting the fact that she had to try her hardest to keep pace with Ami's longer body.

Her long hair had been tied back into a bun after the second competition since it had severely slowed her down... hence why they hadn't come in first.

"We're almost... there!" Ami gasped between breaths, practically sparkling in the spray she sent flying. "Come... on... Saelind! We can... do this!"

It was true: they were so close to the end of this tournament that the dark-haired girl could almost feel the relief that was now within her grasp.

"Just... shut... up..." the smaller girl growled, kicking her leg like crazy and gritting her teeth, "and... SWIM!"

Ami did exactly as she was told, and the two of them continued swimming: kick and flop... kick and flop... kick and flop...

But then, right when Saelind thought she was going to have to stop, her head bumped into something hard.

"WINNER!" Tamaki suddenly howled, lifting his arms high into the air with a broad grin; everyone instantly let out a cheer and got rowdy. "First place goes to Saelind Heseroph and Ami Kikiroshi! Second place goes to Haruhi Fujioka and Seika Ayanokoji! Mimi Mayabuki and Reiji Koizumo... sorry, but you're out!"

The duo who'd come in third place gave each other a sheepish grin and shrugged, giving each other a hug before paddling over to the edge of the pool.

More cheers erupted when Tamaki began ranting about the final competition: even after six hours of having fun, nobody had gotten bored or left the school. However, by this point, Saelind was too tired to care: breathing heavily, the tiny girl slowly dislodged her left leg from the tie keeping her and Ami linked together before heaving herself onto the side of the pool. She flopped onto her back and heaved for air, completely ignoring all of the people who were running over to congratulate her and Ami.

There was supposedly going to be a ten minute break before the final stand-off between the last competitors, so once she'd caught her wind, the raven-haired girl sat up and decided to cool off in a corner of the pool yard. Hoping to catch a quick break before the final match, she sat down on one of the recliner chairs that Tamaki had brought for the party and closed her eyes with a groan: most people didn't realize it, but Saelind had issues with overexerting the left half of her body. Because of how badly she'd been burned, the movement of her arm, neck, torso, and leg was dangerously limited.

She couldn't feel anything on the surface of her skin any longer, that much was true... but she could definitely feel beneath it.

And straining the burned half of her body really, really hurt.

Hence why she'd demanded that she and Ami be tied together on that side: it made quite a bit of sense despite her hatred for physical contact.

In truth, there were hundreds of available surgeries that could lessen the pain in her body... and agonizingly enough, there were even more types of surgeries that could make her face look the way it had been before the fire. She had seen ads about another girl who's face had been completely deformed because her psychotic ex-boyfriend had dunked her entire head in a bucket of dangerous acidic chemicals. After that, she'd looked so mutilated she had been unrecognizable... but then, after receiving only three months of highly expensive skin-surgeries amongst other things, the girl had very nearly gotten her old face back.

Compared to the way she'd looked after the creep had gone nuts, the improvement had been so vast that Saelind had been sure that the same treatment could work for her. Unfortunately, though, everyone aside from her brother had been completely against it because the risk of her being seen was too high. According to everyone else, to completely eradicate the threat of a random paparazzi getting a snapshot of her 'deformities' it was a better solution to say that she'd died in the fire.

Several people had been against that as well, her father included, but the Duchess hadn't listened.

It was also around that time that her father had ditched the family and run off somewhere: he hadn't been able to take the pressure that came with being a Diplomat.

That's why, in a twisted attempt to make him come back, the Duchess had sent Saelind to live in Japan by herself.

After all, when it came to money, her mother never had enough and always wanted more: she'd never spend thousands of dollars to fix her daughter's broken face.

In her mind, it had been a better idea to send her away and pretend like nothing had ever happened in the first place.

_Yes, Mother Dearest, that was sweet of you__, _Saelind silently snarled, mentally rolling her eyes. _God, I'm tired... why did I even agree to participate in this?_

The sound of someone sitting down next to her halted the girl's mental tirade and invaded her bitter thoughts. When she opened her teal eye and slowly turned her head, she twitched when she saw Takeshi sitting on one of the recliners: when he slowly glanced at her, the girl clamped up in fright. Ami's statements from earlier about this boy's weird behavior was still bugging her, and this made it no less difficult to comprehend.

"Hi," Mori murmured, turning his head and staring at Honey, who was bouncing around in a floaty-tube and shouting something about cake for prizes. "Room for two?"

"Do what you want," Saelind mumbled, looking down at the concrete with a nervous expression. "However, leave me out of whatever it is, please."

"Hn," Mori grunted, not even looking at her again. Saelind swallowed before closing her eye again, waiting for Tamaki to call out the last competition. However, before she could so much as begin to relax, Ami Kikiroshi and Seika Ayanokoji walked up with Haruhi trailing close behind, looking somewhat uncomfortable for some reason. When the redhead tapped her, however, Saelind's eye flew open wide and she jerked away with a savage hiss.

"Oh, my!" Seika gasped, jerking her hand back with a startled expression; she quickly smoothed it over, however, and smirked at the growling girl. "How quaint."

"This growl isn't for show, lady," Saelind warned, exposing her long canines with a fierce one-eyed glare. "Don't touch me. Fair warning."

"Well, how rude! I only came over here to wish you luck since you're definitely going to need it!" Seika sighed, giving the black-haired girl a haughty smirk. "After all, I just overheard from Tamaki that the last competition is going to be a race for beauty."

Saelind blinked three times before she narrowed her eyes in fury and turned a vicious glare on her.

"Oh?" she asked with a sinister chuckle, making Haruhi's eyes widen in horror; she'd heard that particular tone before. "So, basically, you think I need to have luck because I'm not good-looking, right? Is that it?"

"I never said any such thing," Ayanokoji scoffed, tossing her gleaming wet hair with a trail of sparkles. "My word, you are cynical."

"You may not have said it directly, but it was definitely implied," Saelind snorted, folding her arms with a devilish smirk. "Cynical or not, people would have to be blind not to see it. Look, lady, I don't care who you are: if you think you're better than me just because I've got these scars, that would immediately make you ugly. If not in body, then in soul. However, because I personally _loathe_ loaded statements, I'm gonna beat you. WITH these scars. So, don't wish me luck... save it for yourself."

With that, Saelind cocked her head with a sarcastic smile and grabbed Ami's hand, pulling the seemingly oblivious brunette away from the redhead.

"Well, that was... rather insulting," Seika stated flatly, forcing an angry smile with shaking shoulders. "Who does he think he is?"

"You might not wanna push him," Haruhi hesitantly warned, wincing when the redhead whirled to face her with burning eyes. "Seriously! He's scary when provoked!"

"I'll show you provoked, Haruhi-_kun_," Ayanokoji giggled mockingly, leaning forward and provocatively squeezing her arms together to make her breasts jiggle. "Any man would be crazy not to fall in love with such a lovely lady, right?"

"Uh..." Haruhi droned, turning away in an effort to avoid responding. "I guess?"

Mori was listening to the conversation, but he was still watching Honey and Saelind with keen eyes, gaze methodically flashing back and forth between the two of them.

He alone knew something that most of the others didn't: they were too slow to catch on, but in reality, maybe that would work in his favor.

At the moment, Saelind was currently standing next to Ami: the shapely brunette was doing stretches, and every guy had his eyes on her since the bathing suits she and Seika were wearing were the only ones that differed from the other girls. Apparently, they hadn't come prepared for the pool opening since they'd originally had no intentions of swimming, but things had changed so they'd donned what they'd been given.

Saelind looked even more slender and scrawny than she usually did in her knee-length swim-trunks, especially since she was wearing an artificial chest. She looked almost like a little kid, and it kind of pissed her off that everyone around her was taller than she was. After a moment, however, Ami turned and glanced at her, not even noticing that she was sulking.

"Why aren't you stretching?" the brunette asked, doing a ditzy little jig before continuing with her stretches. "You need to do it or you'll get cramps!"

"Well, I'm too lazy and I hate stretching because it hurts my left side," Saelind bluntly retorted, shrugging her scrawny shoulders. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah, actually!" Ami asked, turning to look at her with a cheerful grin. "Which would you prefer to have? A pet cheetah, or a pet penguin?"

"Huh?" Saelind confusedly droned; she opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "Well, I guess I'd prefer the cheetah."

"Why?" Ami prompted, sitting down on the edge of the pool and tilting her head back she could look at Saelind with adorably curious eyes. "Why the cheetah?"

"Well, because cheetahs are beautiful, lonely, and fierce... like wolves," Saelind muttered uncomfortably, giving a little shrug. "Also, it'd be weird to have a pet penguin. I mean really, where would I keep it? The freezer? Anyway, w-what about you? W-w-which pet would y-you... want?"

"Penguin," Ami replied, not even having to think about it.

"Why?" Saelind asked in surprise, giving her a blank stare. "Don't tell me it's because you think they're cute... please."

"Well, in truth, that is part of the reason," Ami admitted, then shook her head and sighed. "Okay, picture that you've just had the worst day in existence. I mean, really: your dog was hit by an ice-cream truck, your computer crashed and completely ruined the paper you've been working on for three and a half weeks, and your... um... romantic partner... cheated on you with his or her science tutor because he or she has no taste whatsoever. Now, you're thinking about going up to your room and killing yourself when, suddenly, your pet penguin waddles towards you with a red bow tied around its neck. Go ahead, tell me that's not going to make you smile for at least a few seconds."

Shockingly enough, Saelind actually giggled a little because of the mental image she'd created; then she caught herself and covered her mouth to hide her blush.

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess you do... sort of... have a point," the Russian girl reluctantly admitted. "But still, why a penguin? I mean, come on! Those things are, like, objects of the devil or something! Haven't you ever heard what they sound like when they let loose their animal call?! It's creepy and weird!"

"Maybe they're just misunderstood," Ami murmured softly, giving Saelind such a huge grin that the girl blinked in surprise. "After all, you were at first, too. Give them a chance and maybe you'll see how sweet penguins can really be."

Saelind blinked rapidly as she processed that... but when she made the connection, something hard inside her chest seemed to bloom with warmth and her frigid teal eye softened once again. And yet again, despite how deformed her scars made her look, those soft lips tilted upwards into a beautiful smile: right around that moment, Mori sat upright and leaned forward, watching the scene in front of him with an intense expression. However, he wasn't looking at Saelind.

He was looking at Honey, who was staring at the dark-haired girl with large eyes and a huge smile.

He'd seen the grin: Honey only beamed like that when someone who was sad had finally cheered up. The smile of relief.

"All right, my wonderful guests!" Tamaki finally called, making the black-haired girl scowl and turn to look at him. "It's time for the final competition! Nothing fancy this time, though: for the end, we're doing a classic tag-team lap race to strive for the BEAUTY of friendship!"

"What?" Seika gasped, eyes widening in shock before she glanced down at her swimsuit. "But... I thought..."

"Senpai's not as obvious as you think," Haruhi sighed, flapping a dismissive hand. "You should have expected this."

"Now, will the last two teams get in the water?" Tamaki asked, twirling around with a graceful flourish and gesturing for Ami, Saelind, Haruhi, and Seika to get in. "We'd all be very happy to see both of you wonderful teams win! But remember: no matter who wins or loses, it's all in good fun!"

"Yeah, yeah," Saelind grumbled, giving him a dirty look. "We get it."

Once she was situated next to Ami, Haruhi and princess Ayanokoji got in as well: Ami and Haruhi would be going first... which meant that Saelind's quick speed in the water would be exceptionally useful as a last spurt tactic. The dark-haired girl felt revved up enough to win, and she was sure as hell going to do her best: however, with a tag team, she partially had to rely on her partner since she could only swim once Ami made it back to her.

"All right!" Tamaki called, eliciting an excited cheer from the watchers: almost everyone had gathered at the side of the pool to watch, since they were genuinely enthused about the race. "Ready... set... GO!"

"Go Ami!" Saelind shouted, watching with an intense teal eye as her partner took off. "Go! Go! Go!"

Ami was quick, that much was true, but Haruhi was surprisingly just as good of a swimmer: she was keeping an even pace with the other brunette's movements, and the two of them touched the opposite edge of the pool around the same time. Saelind was delighted when Ami clapped her hand on the return... because, before anyone could blink, she lunged forward and tore into the water like a shark.

She didn't even realize that Seika was doing a somewhat easy and extremely revealing backstroke in order to get everyone's attention: she was able to move fast without going too hard... and in the end, that's probably where Saelind had gone wrong. Because when the girl hit the opposite end of the pool, she flipped underwater and tried to kick off like she'd done when she'd still been on the swim team back in Russia... but because of her lack of stretching, her left leg was pulled too far.

The girl's eyes, blind and not, widened in horror when her leg began to seize.

Mostly because by the time she surfaced, Ayanokoji had just touched off as well and was slowly coming close to passing her.

Struggling to swim, the girl managed to get going again... but around that moment, two voices split the air.

"Move over!" someone snapped. "Jeez, I wanna see, too!"

"Hey, don't push!" a boy shouted. "That's dangerous!"

"Whoa!" the first cried. "ACK!"

Saelind looked up just in time to see two huge shadows falling towards her... but then, before she could so much as blink, an elbow smashed into her nose. The world blurred with a flash of light and a ringing silence dominated the girl's mind. Water clouded her vision as she struggled to move, flailing her arms. Then she realized that small streams of red were floating around through the clearness of the water. Saelind stared at the red with dazed teal eyes: the choking liquid pressed in on her from all sides, making her movements sluggish. Her chest was burning and she was desperate for air... but she was too weak to find the surface, and her struggles slowly began to grow weaker. Darkening spots flashed in front of her eyes, making it hard to see anything.

However... the water was soothing... it was embracing her in a velvety coat.

So unlike the fire that had marked her...

Saelind's eyes fluttered when she slowly began to sink underwater, arms stretched out toward the rippling surface as her energy dissolved. As she faced the orange sky that was so close and yet so far away, her long black hair swirled around her scarred face and flashed like a dark mirror as it drifted around. Staring at the flickering shafts of light with hazed teal eyes, she watched as the faint rippling above her grew dimmer... fading by the second.

_Why is it so cold?_ Saelind vaguely wondered, staring out at nothing as she drifted in and out of consciousness. _Where am I…? Am I underwater? Or is this just a dream?_

However, she was too tired to care. Yes... she was tired... in so many ways... all she really wanted to do was sleep.

Yes... sleep... maybe then the pain would fade... her head hurt... her heart hurt... her throat hurt, probably from the howling... only sleep could soothe this hurt.

_Sleep..._

_The velvety coldness dissolved and all of a sudden she was dry and warm. Her soft teal eyes snapped open, however, when a freezing pair of hands started shaking her body. After a moment, she slowly shook her head and swallowed, shivering violently: she'd been having a nightmare about having to eat wasabi in front of everyone at school, which was her worst nightmare since she couldn't stand spicy foods. However, for some reason she still felt like she was burning up instead of freezing to death in the usual cold sweat. For a moment, she blearily tried to close her eyes again... but the hands continued shaking._

_"Saelind, wake up! We need to get out of here!" a girl angrily _yelled _ in Russian, smacking her shoulder repeatedly. "Hurry up! We have to run away"_

_Feeling quite upset by the noise and violent jerking, the eleven-year-old girl mustered a tired glare at the person who was shaking her so roughly, not quite comprehending what was going on. It was then that her mind recognized the person as the woman who lived upstairs, Alexandria Valvinosh: she'd always been sent to stay with Miss Alex since her brother, Saelvan, was always busy playing at the parties their parents. Their mother was always throwing some sort of shindig at this apartment complex because it had all of the best luxuries as far as decorations went. _

_Miss Alex had autism and got rather lonely since her children lived in Japan with their father, so most of the time, she'd offered to baby sit Saelind._

_The girl slowly sat up on the bed Alex had given her and tried to comprehend what was going on, but the big-boned blonde woman grabbed her slender arm and yanked her off the mattress, ignoring her yelp of surprise. After that, she began dragging the girl out of the bedroom and fled through the apartment suite; after a moment, the little girl registered a horrible screeching sound... the sound of multiple fire alarms spreading throughout the building. _

_It was then that the girl also noticed that she and Alex were the only ones in the hall._

_However, when they made it to the stairwell, Alexandria yanked open the door and a torrid wave of heat hit them both from the hallway._

_She instantly shrieked and backed away, holding Saelind close to her stomach: the stairs were on fire._

_"EEEK!" the woman shrieked, covering her mouth with her sleeve and slamming the door shut when the embers roared into the hall. "NO! Why here?!"  
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_ Alex instantly pushed Saelind out of the way and started stomping on the flames when a few of the cinders caught fire, but the flames only grew larger and started spreading across the carpet. Saelind stood where she was as the heat washed over her body, staring at the burning hall with wide aquamarine eyes: something wasn't right... she felt as though this had happened once before. _

_She slowly glanced down at her smooth, beautiful hands and touched her face in confusion as something in her mind fuzzily began to stir._

_Why was this familiar?_

_Saelind shook her head and tried to figure out what was going on. Her glossy black hair rippled like dark water in the light of the spreading inferno, nightgown billowing out in the fiery wind that had engulfed the hallway.  
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_"Alex...?" she whimpered, looking up at the blonde woman's terrified honey-brown eyes. "What's going on?"  
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_"It's nothing, my honey!" the woman shouted in choppy English, grabbing the girl's hand and dragging her back into the suite; with a fierce slam, she shut the front door and flew into the kitchen even though the smoke had already started sliding through the cracks. Throwing a towel under the faucet in the sink, she soaked it thoroughly before sprinting back over to the door and tucking it under the bottom with a shiver of relief. "That should help for a few minutes... we have to get the window open! Saelind, help me!"_

_"Yes, Ma'am!" she cried, running over and struggling to push the sealed window up. "Ow! Alex, it's stuck! It won't move!"  
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_"Try harder!" the woman wheezed, struggling to lift the window with all of her strength. "Come on, baby, we can do it! Hurry!"_

_After a moment, however, the Russian glanced over her shoulder and gasped, eyes widening in horror when she realized that the fire had slid through the sides of the entrance and the door itself had started smoking. Thinking quickly and intelligently, she grabbed a lamp off of one of her side tables and smashed the enormous window with it; then she threw it off to the side and leaned outside, waving her arms and screaming loudly._

_"HEEEEEEEELP!" Alex screeched, waving her chubby arms and catching the attention of several people down on the street; fingers instantly pointed up at her and several people down below started screaming in Russian. "HELP US! HELP! ME AND A LITTLE GIRL ARE TRAPPED UP HERE! WE'RE TRAPPED!"_

_Already, a crowd had been drawn to the building... but Alex abruptly stopped screaming and her face went whiter than a sheet when she realized that the entire foundation below them had already been set ablaze. Several floors were already burning: there was no way in hell that anybody would be able to get to them since the firetruck ladders couldn't reach the top floor. Alexandria slowly grabbed Saelind's arm and pulled her close to her chest, head flying around with a desperate expression that only a mother could have._

_Then her large brown eyes had widened and she'd jumped up, running over to her blanket closet. After pulling out the least-flammable thing she could find and running into the bathroom, Alex flipped on the shower nozzle and drenched the fabric as much as she possibly could: then she danced around the flames that had started licking up the walls of her home and grabbed Saelind's arm, dragging her into the bathtub and practically throwing her under the water._

_"EE! It's cold!" Saelind squealed, making Alex laugh in an almost maniacal way. "Auntie Alex, it's cold!"_

_"Good," the woman sobbed, quietly bursting into tears. "That's what we need so we don't get burned, okay?! We need to be very cold and wet!"_

_So to speak, she wrapped the dark-haired girl up in the wet blanket, jumped under the water herself, and held her tightly until the two of them were completely soaked to the bone; after that, she wrapped herself up as well and lifted Saelind into her strong arms, staring at the fire outside of her bathroom with terrified brown eyes. Then, those motherly eyes narrowed and she let out a terrified scream before charging into the fire. _

_No... _a silent voice suddenly whispered, making the world around Saelind go fuzzy. _Not again... please..._

_Alex ran... and ran... and ran... through the searing heat, out into the hall, coughing hysterically and sprinting down the burning stairs at top speed... then down another hallway, around another corner... down another flight of stairs... burning her feet, peeling her skin... leaving behind charred pieces of bloody flesh on the burning floor. Saelind began coughing violently since the smoke was hurting her eyes and throat, and even Alex coughed and cried as she ran. She was carrying Saelind through the fires of hell itself._

_The flames were being reflected in Saelind's tropical blue eyes as she ran through them._

_She saw the fire licking the walls and ceiling, watched as it devoured the chipped paint they were passing. However, just as Alex turned to run into the stairwell leading down to the building's twentieth floor, the ceiling above them crumbled: the woman yelped when several heavy ceiling joists crashed down onto the floor in front them, blocking the path to the exit. A split second after the ceiling had collapsed, the edge of the wooden floor dropped nearly a foot underneath Alexandria's feet. _

_The woman staggered backwards toward the edge of the opening chasm with a startled look on her face, clutching Saelind's body with both hands and struggling to catch her balance. However, when one end of the wooden floor dropped even further and the entire hallway tilted at a dangerous sixty degree angle, the woman purposely threw her just before she lost her balance. The little girl hit the ground and watched with horrified eyes as Alexandria stumbled backwards on the wood. However, just before she went over the edge, Saelind's heart skipped a beat and she leapt forward, grabbing the woman's hand with both of hers._

_No!_ the silent voice begged, sounding to be on the verge of tears; the world once again flickered, making Saelind's eyes glaze a little. _Not again! No! Please!_

_However, it was already too late: there was suddenly nothing underneath Alexandria's feet... and she fell, _hand being torn out of her own_. _

_The woman's wide brown eyes had met Saelind's terrified teal ones just as she fell backwards and flipped off the edge. It had all happened so quickly, so abruptly and horribly... and yet, somehow... it also seemed as though it were happening in slow motion. Time itself had become a conundrum in its attempt to burn that moment into her memory just as the fire had burned her flesh. Saelind lunged and flailed to grab the woman's hand again._

_And she missed._

_The image of Alexandria's horrified brown eyes looking straight into her own was the last thing she saw before she vanished down into the burning darkness. However, the floor dropped out from underneath her not too long after she disappeared: Saelind's long black hair began to fan around her small body and she screamed in terror as the floor dropped away. The world abruptly began to fly past her as she floated off the burning carpet... but then, an explosion of stars rocketed into her skull because the floor she was hovering above finally smashed into the eighteenth floor._

_And not even two seconds after she hit it, three ceiling joists smashed into her back and pinned her to the ground. _

_The worst part was that she was still conscious: she could see the horrible fire roaring towards her and was completely unable to move. _

_No... _the silent voice whimpered.

_The heat engulfed her..._

_Please, no._

_Burned her._

_No!_

_Scarred her..._

_NOOOOOOOOO!_

_Sent her spiraling down into darkness... the darkness of eternal sleep. _

_If it hadn't been for Alex, who slowly stumbled out of the inferno with a broken back and a decapitated right arm, Saelind would have died under that debris. However, the woman had freed her, dragged her down the rest of the stairs by her arms, and pulled her outside using the last of her life. She had dropped dead not even a split second after the girl was safe. The next time Saelind had awoken, she'd been in the hospital... and she'd overheard her parents in the hall. _

_The same people who had angrily been discussing what to do about the situation._

_The same people who had argued that a burned child was less than useless to their family._

_The same people who had fought with each other over which foster home to take her to._

_That was the sorry truth: she wasn't a child anymore... she was a charity case._

_"No!" the silent voice wailed, making Saelind realize with horror that it was coming from her own mouth. "No! Help me!"_

_What seemed like mere moments later, although it very well could have been years, a white flash of light trickled out of the distance and began shining on her face._

_The shadowy hospital recoiled and dissolved in the face of this light. _

_When a slender ribbon of luminescence descended from the distant sun, Saelind's eyes glazed over: she reverently took in the glowing shape that was slowly stretching out to her... the shape of two shaking hands... large brown eyes... eyes that were begging for something with frantic urgency. Then she realized that she was underwater... and before she could comprehend what she was actually looking at, the intruder to her eternal darkness snared her like a fishhook in the dark. The hands wound around her form and yanked her upward, sending the girl spiraling straight into a world full of light and warmth._

_Saelind thought she might have screamed, but she couldn't remember._

_Mostly because she'd finally blacked out._


	18. Chapter 17: The Declaration

**Author's**** Note: **Before you read this next chapter, I have an announcement to make. The girl this story was written about (Saelind) contacted me yesterday and told me, over the phone, that she loved it with all her heart and that I captured her personality to a T. However, she also asked me for a request since she's still struggling with some personal issues about being seen. For the first time in years, she told me that she'll try to come out of her shell depending on the reaction this idea gets from all of you.

And so, I would like to let you wonderful readers know that the REAL Saelind wants me to temporarily change the main story cover to a real-life photo of her. In all actuality, Saelind isn't the daughter of a duchess or anything so fanciful... nor did she even attend a private school like Ouran, or wear a school uniform of any variety, or even live in Japan. However, unlike a lot of OC characters I read about on Fanfiction... Saelind really exists in the world. And yes, she IS Russian: born and raised in Moscow before she transferred to a high school in the United States. However, she's someone I love dearly, so when you see the 'temporary' cover... please: be very, very, VERY gentle.

Anyway... enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter Seventeen: The Declaration<span>  
><strong>

_Black... it was all black... nothingness._

_No color._

_No light._

_No sound._

_Nothing but an endless darkness that stretched on endlessly beyond her closed eyelids. She felt so weak that she couldn't even open them... she could feel herself floating weightlessly in the frigidness of this icy void, could feel the fierce winds lifting her hair away from her back... and yet, she couldn't move. She felt so weak that her body was incapable of doing anything. She wanted to open her eyes... she wanted to see where she was, why everything was so windy... why she felt so weightless. But w__hen she finally managed to lift her eyelids, she realized with a dazed sense of horror that there was nothing but shadow in front of her._

_Alone._

_Where she had always been._

_Then... the darkness suddenly cracked like a pane of glass, making her blink rapidly. _

_More cracks soon jolted down in front of her... almost seeming to form understandable words, even though they were nothing but jagged lines and odd fissures. _

_Her heart thumped and her eyes slowly widened as an inexplicable horror built up inside her soul: she recognized these symbols... and not only that, she understood what they meant. These weren't cracks... it was Japanese Kanji... she had been taught to read it by someone that even now she held close to her heart. Even to this day... she remembered all of the teachings she'd inherited._

_From Alexandria._

_These symbols burned themselves into her eyes... but then, more of them began fraying the endless blackness in resting all around her, cracking it into pieces. She tried to close her eyes again when the symbols continued to shatter the darkness... but then, out of all the blinding words in front of her, one started glowing red and she felt her heart skip a beat. Her name... it was her own name! The words that had defined her from the moment she'd been born: dragon song. _

_She couldn't let become tainted!_

_Saelind started choking when her true name shifted from a hot bright red to a darker shade of crimson, almost seeming to sizzle with something vile._

_"Please..." Saelind whispered, slowly and weakly lifting her smooth and beautiful hand; like her name, it started burning... becoming scarred, distorted. "Someone... save me."_

_The moment she said it..._ _the darkness shattered and the world exploded with light. _

_Saelind suddenly saw a vision herself running with an outstretched hand on top of an endless lake: she seemed to be running nowhere even though she was going at top speed... and she was also reaching for something with desperation on her face. Then her doppelganger started stumbling and finally lost her balance, long hair being blasted forward by something... but she never lowered her hand. Just before she fell, she reached for something, hair flying around her face and teal eye streaming tears.  
><em>

_There was an unexpected flash of light, similar to a lightning strike, and it erased the vision from view._

_When she was able to see again, she witnessed Haruhi standing in the middle of a blue void and being blown around by a fierce wind... a wind that seemed to be coming from every direction and was pelting her mercilessly. Her glossy hair was flying this way and that and her Ouran uniform was being jerked as if the wind had unseen hands. Tears were streaming from her eyes and being blown off her face as she stood there, locked in place by the wind, amber eyes facing two distant shadows and yearning for something that Saelind couldn't see. _

_Then another flash swept the vision away... and she saw... shockingly enough... Honey._

_Honey was standing soaking wet amongst several white flowers and looking straight at her. His large brown eyes looked blank and cold with an unbearable amount of sadness. Saelind's weakness increased when she saw his mouth moving and a tear slid down his pale cheek... but then, behind him, Mori slowly faded into view and she saw him gently set a hand on the blonde's shoulders. _

_Saelind strained to hear what the blonde was saying... but even though his mouth was still slowly moving, no sound reached her. In truth, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, Honey was genuinely the sweetest person she knew... he was always bright, always laughing, and even though she didn't particularly like him, she'd always avoided him during her encounters with the Host Club since she knew she couldn't snap at someone so pure. In a way, he reminded her of the person she used to be... and that's why she hadn't been able to turn her anger on him directly.  
><em>

_That one tear sliding out of his empty brown eyes nearly broke her.  
><em>

_He and Mori soon faded into white... and a voice met her ears.  
><em>

_"Saelind!" _someone shrieked in a muffled tone. _"Saelind, can you hear me?!"_

She knew that voice from somewhere... she knew it like the back of her hand, although she didn't understand why... it was so shrill...

_"Is_ _he gonna be okay_?!" a somewhat posh female voice asked, sounding extremely worried. _"Hey, is he all right?!"_

_"Don't worry, my dear!"_ another familiar voice stammered. _"H-he's breathing, so... he'll probably be fine! What we need to do is get him to the nurse, so... um..."_

_"Saelind!"_ the shrill voice shouted. _"Please! Wake up!_"

_"__Mitsukune__, calm down," _a deep voice muttered stoically._ "Saelind is tough: he'll be okay."_

_"Yeah," _two identical voices stated at the same time._ "But still, we need to get him to the infirmary and call a doctor... Haruhi, you need to let go of him."_

Saelind's entire body twitched when an angry screech filled the air.

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Haruhi shouted hysterically, bringing the girl's consciousness around. "Don't touch him! Get back!"

Saelind's eyes fluttered a little, but then she opened them a crack and very nearly winced when the orange sky blinded her. However, she was mildly confused when she saw everyone from the Host Club, members and guests alike, crowded around her. Even more confusing was the fact that a familiar brunette was straddling her upper torso with shaking limbs. Her soaked hair was obscuring her eyes and she was obviously shaken up, but what Saelind couldn't comprehend was why the girl was literally keeping everyone away from her.

"Haruhi, come on," Tamaki tried to reason, slowly leaning forward; he jumped away and clamped down on Kyouya when the girl slapped his hand away. "Eek!"

"Shut up!" Haruhi shouted, lifting her head and revealing that her eyes were full of terrified tears. "Just shut up! You're all a bunch of idiots! You didn't even notice he was in trouble! You could have helped, but you didn't! You were all staring at Ayanokoji's dumb bikini! You didn't even see him..."

"H-Haruhi..." Tamaki whispered, staring at her with a stunned expression when she broke down and started crying. "That's not true!"

"It IS true!" Haruhi bawled, shaking her head. "Senpai, even you... you didn't notice, either! You didn't see!"

"B-but Haru-chan!" Honey whined, staring at her with large eyes and a stunned expression. "We didn't know he'd gotten hurt! How could we have?!"

"That's my point!" Haruhi cried, clamping down on Saelind's skinny arms. "Nobody was watching Saelind! Nobody cared! So keep your hands off him!"

"Well, why?" the twins asked, looking at each other with extremely confused expressions.

"Because Saelind is my _friend!"_ Haruhi bawled, hugging the girl with shaking muscles and finally bursting into tears. "No... he's not just a friend... Saelind is _family. _Don't touch him! Keep your damn hands off him!_"_

When Haruhi burst into tears and everyone tried to calm her down, the black-haired girl felt something unpleasant stirring in her heart... guilt. In truth, she hadn't really liked Haruhi all that much since she was a part of the Host Club and she lived right next door. However, she also hadn't given the brunette a chance because she had everything that Saelind had always wanted. She hadn't known just how much the girl sitting on top of her really worried until that moment.

"Haruhi," Saelind finally wheezed, making the girl glance at her face with a startled expression; everyone instantly stepped away, since the dark-haired girl finally opened her eye a little more and turned her head to face the brunette. However, silence filled the air all around when her teal eye softened and her lips tilted upward into a small smile. "Stop crying like a girl and get off me please. I appreciate the sentiment... but... I think I'm okay now."

"S-S-S-S-S-Saelind!" the girl exclaimed, instantly gripping her shoulders and shaking her violently. "Are you okay?! Does it hurt anywhere?!"

"Ow, ow, ow," the girl coughed out, grimacing at the movement. "OW! Haruhi, cut it out! It only hurts where you're grabbing me, jeez!"

"Sorry," the brunette sniffed, jerking her arms back and plopping her hands down. "I'm sorry... but... are you really okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," Saelind wheezed, struggling to breathe. "However, you're suffocating me... could you get off now?"

"Oh, um, yes!" Haruhi gasped, jumping off to the side and watching as Saelind slowly sat up and touched her throbbing nose. "Are you okay?"

"What happened?" the dark-haired girl asked, touching her head and swaying back and forth. "Did I win?"

That question was met with several stares... but then, a lot of good-natured snickering arose that soon devolved into uproarious gales of laughter. Saelind merely looked around in confusion, not comprehending why everyone was laughing: her eye was glazed over and she felt a little dazed, almost as though she'd been sleeping for a long time without knowing it. The last thing she could remember was Ami slapping her hand for the tag-team race... then there was nothing, a place where her memory simply cut off and started up with the sound of the voices around her.

"All that matters is that you're okay now," Haruhi stated a little more calmly, rubbing her eyes before glancing at the Host Club members. "Sorry... for snapping at all of you like that. Can... can you forgive me?"

Tamaki covered his mouth when his cheeks turned red... then he leapt forward and lifted the girl into his arms, spinning her in circles.

"Of course, Haruhi!" the blonde squealed, smothering her face against his bare chest. "Daddy will always forgive you! You're so passionate about your friends!"

"Senpai, stop!" the brunette squealed, kicking her legs; then Tamaki stepped on open air, and the two of them blinked only a split second before the fell into the pool with identical squeals of surprise. "ACk! Why?! I just got out of this thing!"

"Saelind," a voice suddenly whispered, making the dark-haired girl slowly turn her head; she blinked when she saw Ami sitting next to her with an extremely worried expression on her face. "Are you really okay? I was so scared... we thought you... that you had..."

The girl covered her mouth and turned her face away, not able to finish the sentence: her eyebrows were shivering and she looked distraught.

"Do I look dead to you?" Saelind grumpily inquired, quirking an eyebrow when the girl jumped and glanced at her again. "Look, I'm fine... I don't even remember what happened, so there's nothing to be worried about. I'm alive, everyone is calming down, so there's no harm done at all. Plus, the competition is over, and everyone is leaving to go get their things... I think I should do the same since my boobs feel squashed."

"Oh," Ami droned, worried expression vanishing in an instant. "Well, I'm glad you're okay."

With that, she stood up and walked away, heading for the locker rooms without even glancing back. However, it was also around that moment that Honey noticed Haruhi glaring daggers at the bikini-wearing brunette: he instantly blinked before glancing at Saelind, who was currently tilting her head and tapping the side of it to get water out of her ear. She still hadn't made a single attempt to stand up, which made the blonde boy feel confused.

Haruhi noticed the same thing and walked over to her.

"Do you need help getting up?" she hesitantly asked, holding out a hand; Saelind slowly turned and stared at it. "I know you don't like touching people, but still..."

Startling her profoundly, Saelind slowly extended her own hand without a word and allowed the brunette to help her up.

Then, the Russian girl headed in the direction of the locker room, wrapping a towel around herself as she went.

However, just before she disappeared into the building, she halted.

"Did you mean it?" she called in a low tone, making Haruhi blinked and cock her head. "What you said earlier?"

"What... do you mean?" Haruhi inquired, quirking an eyebrow when the shorter girl turned to look at her. "I meant everything I said."

"I see," Saelind mumbled, looking down at the concrete. "Family, huh?"

Without another word, she walked into the locker rooms and left behind a confused brunette who had no idea what to think.

"I'm glad Sael-chan is okay," Honey mumbled, shuffling his feet before he glanced up at Mori. "That was really scary, but if you hadn't jumped in..."

"It was nothing," Mori deadpanned, slowly turning around and walking away. "I only got her out of the water. Haruhi did the rest."

When he was gone, Honey slowly lowered his eyes and seemed to deflate, smile gone within seconds.

"But if you hadn't jumped in," he finished in a small tone of voice, staring at the ground, "I would have."

With a sigh, Honey shrugged his shoulders and let the floaty tube drop to his ankles. Even though he was the cutest male in the Host Club, he was also the most forgettable. And that's exactly why he tried so hard to STAY cute: nobody would know he was there if he didn't. Even now, nobody noticed his unhappy expression. Still, after a moment the optimism bounced back and he happily headed for the locker rooms.


	19. Chapter 18: Unexpected Playdate

**Chapter Eighteen: Unexpected Playdate**

A hooded figure sat in the middle of a dark and dreary room.

All around him were dimly lit candles, wooden cat statues, and many carving materials that lay scattered all over in various places.

There wasn't a single window in this room... not an ounce of natural light broke through the impending darkness. The hooded figure, however, didn't seem bothered at all by this: in fact, at the moment, he was chuckling softly as he carved out his most beautiful creation yet. The most realistic carving he'd ever made was resting under his pale fingers.

"Oh, Beelzenef," he dreamily sighed, lifting the realistic cat carving up and looking at it from within his hood. "You're such a good kitty. I know you'd never curse anyone, but those morons next door just don't know how to be quiet."

It was true: since he was living in the school's darkest and most cut-off place, he had no other choice but to listen to the obscenely grotesque displays going on just outside his door. It was true that he had a profound interest in the paranormal, and he'd even created his little one-man Black Magic club in an effort to boost his school points up a notch, but in truth... he simply liked cats.

More specifically, one cat: a beautiful Siamese named Beelzenef, who was really nothing more than a kitten with the biggest, brightest blue-green eyes he'd ever seen.

Most people didn't understand his obsession for something as beautiful as that one little kitty: they found it weird that he'd created a Beelzenef puppet so he wouldn't feel lonely without his loveable feline. Even the Host Club was dense about it: a few months ago, he'd overheard a fight going on between the incestuous twins and pressed his ear against the door to listen, since the two of them going at it like cats in heat was an extremely rare occurrence. It had never happened before or after, so it had caught his interest.

But then, his door had slid open because of his mistake, and one of his carvings had rolled away from him and straight into Suoh Tamaki's heel. And he, ever the blonde, had immediately jumped to conclusions and made up some extremely weird stories to justify how creepy he, the one and only Umehito Nekozawa, really was. So, Nekozawa had done what any pissed young man would do: he'd intentionally used Tamaki's fears against him and acted as creepy as he could.

Later, however, he'd been forced to reveal a side of himself that he hadn't wanted anybody to see by going to those same people for help.

After all, his sister was worth more than his pride, and he wanted nothing more than to take care of her.

Unfortunately, he'd been reluctant to seek any help whatsoever from the Host Club.

Especially since they had a very weird way of doing whatever they wanted without reaping any sort of negative consequences.

"Aha!" Nekozawa exclaimed, dusting off some remaining wood shavings and holding the gleaming cat statue up with a crooked smile. "You're finally finished!"

With that, he glided to his feet and swept over to the nearest shelf, where twelve other carvings ranging from amateur craftsman ship to a progressively more realistic style were stacked up in a row: they were the stages of his progression in carving, mere pieces of work that he could look at later on to see how far he'd taken his hobby since he;d first started it. However, once he'd set the cat on the shelf, he stepped on one of his scattered books and bent over to pick it up.

He paused after reading the title.

"Tales of the Occult," he chuckled weakly, lifting a hand and scratching at the black wig he was wearing. "I need to return this to the school's fifth library."

Which, truthfully, was something he was dreading since people would shy away from him and high-tail it in the opposite direction once they saw him.

Yes, people thought he was creepy because of his clothing selection, but it wasn't as though he had a choice in the matter. Almost everyone aside from his little sister thought he had Photophobia... even the maids and servants employed to his family. After all, the truth about his illness was locked away in a medical file, so it wasn't all that surprising that people rolled their eyes at his need for darkness. However, in truth, Nekozawa didn't hate sunlight at all... in fact, he loved it just as much as his little sister did. It was so bright, and beautiful, that he longed to be a part of it.

Even more so because his little sister was always walking alone in that light.

And yet, as fate would have it, he couldn't even be near fluorescent lightbulbs, let alone the sun.

And the reason?

Two words: Xeroderma Pigmentosa.

To those of you who don't know what that is, Xeroderma Pigmentosa is a genetic disorder similar to albinism, only fundamentally different since the genes affected have nothing to do with pigmentation. In short, Nekozawa was deathly allergic to ultraviolet rays, and sunlight could legitimately kill him if he stayed outside for more than an hour without his cloak or some form of protective clothing.

He had often been compared to a vampire because of his illness, especially since nobody really knew the true reason behind his desire for darkness... and when you coupled his unnaturally pale skin and platinum blonde hair with his natural aversion to sunlight, the idea that he was similar to a mythological blood sucker wasn't exactly that far off. Throw in the fact that he'd developed a weird taste for the things he'd always been compared to and you'd have a pretty good idea about what the young man was like.

Creepy.

Still, he was content to be himself since he couldn't change anything, and since he really didn't care what other people thought... well, he had nothing to worry about. After a moment, Nekozawa shook himself clear of all of his hesitance and took a deep breath, making sure his hood was shielding his eyes before slowly walking over to the doors to the music room. His biggest problem would be getting past the Host Club without them noticing. They'd no doubt act like women running from a mouse if they spotted him: they'd done so several times before.

Granted, he HAD intentionally tried to scare the shit out of Suoh a few times... so he didn't blame them.

He'd overheard a few days ago that they'd just finished throwing a pool party, and now the new plan was a surprise matchmaking scheme that people of all genders were allowed to join. Those types of get-togethers were the worst, and usually, he never left his room since most of the guests visiting the Host Club found him to be exceedingly creepy.

"Well, Beelzenef," Nekozawa chuckled, wiggling his little cat puppet with a soft expression. "Should we get going and try to avoid being seen?"

The puppet cat nodded and clapped its little paws.

"Okay then!" he sighed, muscles locking into a rigid posture. "Here we gooooooo..."

Once he opened the doors, however, he spotted the entire Host Club in disarray: everyone was planning for some random thing while trying to entertain multiple ladies at once, and after a moment, Nekozawa started sweating. However, just as he was about to start moving, a flash of something extremely glossy and dark caught his attention. When he turned, a startled expression flitted across his half-hidden features.

That eye... that familiar blue-green tint... he would know that color anywhere.

His mouth widened even further and he stood still, shocked to his core: he was looking straight at someone familiar to him... and yet, also _unfamiliar..._ but who...?

"Beelzenef?" Nekozawa whispered, shivering a little before reason flooded his mind; it wasn't possible... she was human, not a cat. "Odd... they have the same eyes."

However, just as he said it, the dark-haired beauty turned away from the plump brunette she was talking to in order to glance at Haruhi.

Then she turned her head and stared directly at him, and he stiffened like a wooden board since her scars had been revealed. When that large teal focused on him, it almost seemed to pierce his heart because of how cold it was... he understood why, too. He could see every inch of her puckered flesh because her hair had been pulled out of the way... but even more shocking than that was her left eye. It was the same beautiful shade of aquamarine as the right, but the pupil was dilated and milky grey: blind.

Nekozawa slowly lifted a hand to his mouth and stared at her, not knowing how to react.

It wasn't the first time the Host Club had recruited a girl and put her in men's clothing, and since he had an odd knack for spotting women immediately, he had been able to tell the first time he'd seen Haruhi that they were up to no good... but to think they'd go as far as recruiting someone like _this_ girl was inconceivable. Especially since Tamaki was a beauty fanatic: he literally had such a one-track mind that it was rather shocking.

After a moment, the girl's blue-green eye slowly blinked and her gaze slid towards the floor in an almost ashamed manner.

The Hitachiin brothers immediately noticed her stiff posture and glanced at him from their spot at a nearby table: the moment they grinned at each other, however, Nekozawa brought his mind back to the present and swept towards the doors leading into the hall. He had a prickling feeling in his gut about the smiles he'd just seen: he smiles that told him some trouble was headed his way.

He soon forgot about it, though, and merely returned the book to the library before heading to the cafeteria and grabbing a snack.

However, on his way back to his room, several weird conversations met his ears.

"Oh, Kami-sama! Have you heard?"

"The draw? I know! Do you think my name will be pulled out?"

"As if! I'm going to be the one! This is my opportunity!"

"Yeah, right! Like that would ever happen."

Nekozawa walked past several gossiping girls and effeminate males with his head down and his eyes hidden, shoulders hunched as he wondered what the whole school was buzzing about. However, when he turned around a corner, he spotted another unusual thing: Renge was walking down the hallway and shoving bright pink papers into people's faces, and to his horror, she immediately smirked and swept towards him the moment she laid eyes on him.

Nekozawa recoiled when the Asian girl waved a paper into his own face.

"This is your opportunity, Shady-san!" the girl obnoxiously shouted, grinning down at him with devilish brown eyes. Nekozawa shakily took the paper so the artificial blonde would stop waving it around his face and slowly examined the words in an unfeeling sort of way.

_The Ouran Host Club_  
><em>You've all HEARD their names.<em>  
><em>You've all SEEN them.<em>  
><em>So why not have the opportunity to DATE them?<em>  
><em>Just put your name down in the form below<em>  
><em>And hand it in to Renge.<em>  
><em>We're having a draw and eight lucky girls (or guys)<em>  
><em>Will have a date with one of the HC members!<em>

Nekozawa blinked, then cocked an eyebrow and read it again, feeling rather surprised. He had never known that Renge could string that many sentences together, let alone write out an advertisement for landing a date with one of the Host Club members. The shadowed boy shuddered and threw the paper into the closest trash bin after Renge stomped off: all around him, girls were shrieking and hastily filling out their forms with whatever they could find… including eyeliner pencils and lipstick that looked way too thick.

_Gross, _Nekozawa thought with a silent chuckle, staring at the girls with lowered blue eyes. __Someone should tell them that they're allowed to bring pens to school.__

Still, he had to admit that the Host Club was quite a popular group... because the very next day, guys and girls alike were crowded around all of them, talking about the draw that was supposed to be happening at lunch. However, he couldn't stop a case of the cold prickles when he passed the twins in the hallway that very morning: they'd both grinned at him the way a hunter would catch sight of its prey.

He wasn't used to being looked at in general, so it was disturbing to see the twins staring at him like that.

_I'm not going to hang around the cafeteria at lunch time,_ Nekozawa thought to himself.

Later on, he had to wriggle his way through several crowds of girls and guys just so he could reach the food line.

Tamaki, Haruhi, Mori, Honey, Kyouya, the twins, and shockingly enough, the unknown member were standing in front of a podium in the center of the luxurious dining hall. There were a few people at the cafeteria line, but most had turned to stare at Tamaki and the Host Club. Nekozawa quickly started loading a little bit of onto his tray, ignoring the cool and collected voice of Kyouya as he started talking to the whole cafeteria. Nekozawa was caught between the decision of apple cider or the hot chocolate when he heard a loud applause erupting garishly behind him.

Several names had apparently been called, and only one name was left: one last chance to get a date with a host club member.

Turning slightly and peering out of his hood, the boy saw that Tamaki had taken a large pink hat from the twins; slowly turning his face away, Nekozawa turned back to the food and shifted from foot to foot as he wondered what drink he should get. There was an abrupt silence behind him and he heard every girl hold their breath. Finally deciding on grape juice, he grabbed the container and set it on his tray with the rest of his lunch.

The youth distantly wondered why it was taking so long to draw the name as he made his way out of the dining hall, then about why there were so many people crowded in there in the first place. He could hardly make his way through the crowd and kept having to mutter 'sorry' and 'excuse me' every time he pushed past someone, which made him feel very uncomfortable and awkward.

"Umehito Nekozawa!" a set of triumphant voices called from behind.

_Good for her… having a date with a host club member must have made that girl's afternoon… _Nekozawa muttered; then his blue eyes went wide and his shoulders hunched up in alarm as she froze mid-step. _Hang on, what?_

Half the crowd flinched as well when they heard his name being called out.

Several people were all staring at the twins as if waiting for them to call for a redraw.

Nobody expected them to let someone like Nekozawa to date one of their own members, Nekozawa the least of all.

The hooded boy still had his back turned, frozen in position. The whispers around him caused the boy to start moving again, though, large feet propelling his body as quickly as possible toward the cafeteria doors. There was no way that he was going on a date with another male: for one thing, he wasn't gay, and for another... he had no doubt that dates entitled brightly-lit places.

"Come on, Nekozawa-senpai!" the twins called, seeming to spot the boy through the crowd; their voices were bright and cheerful. "Hurry up!"

There were people on all sides waiting for him to turn around, blocking his path to freedom and making him shiver. With slow movements, the boy shrank into his hood and turned around before walking to the table: the girls and boys before him parted as if he were a disease. When Nekozawa was finally at the table and standing in front of the Host Club, the blonde looked up with nervous eyes.

"I didn't put my name down," he stated anxiously, looking around at the group of scammers. "I... I threw the paper in the trash. Could you please do a redraw?"

The twins didn't seem swayed by Nekozawa's statement; however, after a moment, Renge stepped forward waved the pink slip of paper before him.

"That's not possible," she snootily explained. "This is your handwriting, isn't it?"

Nekozawa carefully took the pink slip out of her long fingers and looked over the form.

"No, not even close," the boy uneasily explained. "I write in Kanji, and I'm left-handed."

"Well, this is an odd development," Kyouya stated simply, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I never would have thought someone would turn down Saelind... this is almost inhumanely cruel."

The boy's eyes flicked to the right and he glanced at the dark-haired girl standing beside him: her skinny arms were folded and she looked extremely pissed.

"What about you, Sael-chan?" Honey giggled, swinging his bunny around. "What do you think?"

"I'm trying not to think, honestly," the girl stated coldly; then she glanced at the boy. "This isn't an official date since... we're both guys. Let's just think of it as an outing between friends and move on with our lives."

With that, she turned around and swept out of the cafeteria, leaving behind several people who returned to their lunches.

"Beelzenef?" Nekozawa whimpered, looking at his puppet cat. "Do you think I'm going to die tomorrow?"

The cat responded by nodding twice and clapping its hands.

Which promptly sent the hooded boy running for the doors, screaming his head of in a severe fit of hysteria.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Author's Note<strong>: Some of you were asking how Saelind got burned. My response is to go read the chapter with the fire scene, because that's basically how it happened. Also, more of you were asking if Saelind actually has fangs because of her messed up genetics... and the answer is yes, she really does have fangs and her DNA was fucked up because of a mistake her parents made concerning snake and wolf dna. The first time I ever saw her smile, I nearly shit myself because of how LONG her teeth are. No joke. Also, one more thing: Saelind HAS howled on a few camping trips over the years, and frighteningly enough, wild wolves sometimes howl back for a while.

Don't ask me why, or even how she does it, but the real Saelind is far more unique than anyone I've ever met.

Especially since she's an itty bitty, fun-sized little thing. So cute and tiny! :3

(Love ya, Sae! And just in case you're reading this, DON'T KILL ME for the tiny comment!)


	20. Chapter 19: Wicked Scheme

**Author's note:** Saelind told me about a week ago that she loves all of your comments. Apparently, she thinks ButterTARDIS has the most amusing username she's ever seen, she laughed her ass off at Caring16's review, and Elfen Children... WHY?! She glomped me and tackled me clean onto the ground thanks to that Review of yours! Bleeeeh! (Sticks tongue out) :P However, she's told me that she might even leave a review herself one of these days. Doubt it, since she has no account, but I think it'd be interesting if she did.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter Nineteen: A Wicked Scheme<strong>

Saelind was pissed.

Beyond pissed.

So pissed that she wanted to strangle someone.

Her face was so red that steam should have been shooting out of her ears. Kyouya was standing directly in front of her, scribbling something down in his secret file and completely ignoring the fact that she was glaring daggers into his face. The Host Club members were standing quite a bit out of the way since they hadn't wanted to set off her temper: normally, they wouldn't have hesitated to go near her, but she was positively livid. Even compared to how she normally acted, this rage was on a completely different level.

"Was this really necessary?" the Russian girl carefully demanded, trying to keep her voice even despite her twitching eyelid; she pressed her lips together when Kyouya's eyes flicked up and landed on her face for a moment. "Honest to God, what makes you think I'd ever go out on a blind date?!."

"I apologize for not informing you of your participation in the event," the boy sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "However, aren't you going overboard?"

"No! Actually, this is a NORMAL reaction that any REGULAR person SHOULD have!" Saelind hissed, glaring at Kyouya with a frigid teal eye. "Why would you do this to me?! Do you enjoy pissing me off or something?! You never said a single word about the dating thing until the names were already being called out, you jerk! How the hell could you possibly think that I, of all the people in this school, would want to go on a random date with a stranger?!"

"When you put it like that, you make me sound like a villain," Kyouya chuckled, glancing up with no expression whatsoever. "Personally, I didn't really think there would be this much opposition from you, especially since almost every girl in the room was vying for either you, Mori-sempai, or Tamaki. Isn't it a good thing that you're so popular among the ladies?"

"EXCUSE ME?!" the girl screeched, throwing her arms in the air and making the other Hosts cower down like children. "NO! IT'S NOT! WHY HAVEN'T YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD THAT I DON'T **LIKE** DRAWING ATTENTION TO MYSELF?! POPULARITY ISN'T A GOOD THING FOR ME!"

"But Saelind, think of the guests!" Tamaki whimpered, hiding behind Kyouya when her hair practically began to rise out of fury. "It's our job as Hosts to entertain!"

For a long moment, the girl's face slowly turned bright red and her muscles started shaking.

And then, regardless, she finally lost her temper.

"I'm done with you people," Saelind spat, lowering her head and hiding her eyes with her hair; everyone stared at her in horror when she jerked at her tie and ripped it off of her uniform, and Takashi covered Honey's eyes when she ripped the front of her blazer right down the middle and threw it off to the side. "I'm not your toy. I'm not your dog. And I never wanted to be a part of this. You people are crazy: not only have you turned me into a liar, you've also put me on display like a zoo animal. This club of yours is awful, and I don't want to take any part of it. If you want to entertain people, join the God damn circus: I'm sure they'd love to have whackos like you!"

"B-but, what about your debt?!" Haruhi stammered, rushing over stepping in front of her with horrified brown eyes. "Saelind, don't! This isn't right!"

"A debt is something meant to be payed off, Haruhi!" the black-haired girl roared, making her jerk back with enormous eyes. _"You_ couldn't afford to pay for your mistake, and that's why you were blackmailed into doing work for these nutcases. I, however, have enough money to buy this whole god damn school, and if I really wanted to, nobody would be able to stop me since my family is powerful on TOP of filthy rich. So, to hell with working for it! I hate everything about this club, so I'm not gonna stick around!"

"Y-you hate the Host Club?!" Tamaki squeaked, looking as though his heart were going to break. "Why?!"

Saelind slowly turned and stared at him, teal eye practically igniting and making him huddle down.

"Because a man who carelessly toys with the hearts of multiple women at once when he already has his sights set on someone else," the black-haired girl stated in a very low tone, making the blonde stare at her in confusion, "is not someone I could ever say that I respect. A woman's heart is an ocean of secrets, Suoh Tamaki: you cannot break the ocean. You can only create a storm, which turns it cold and dangerous towards those who are closest to it."

With that, she stomped towards the doors with her long hair flying.

Everyone was in shock: the twins were staring with open mouths, Honey was about to cry, Haruhi looked as though she'd gone into a daze, Takashi was flailing his arms and making a deep choking sound, and Tamaki was once again crumbling into dust. Kyouya, however, slowly flicked his eyes up and pushed his glasses up his nose since the only reason they hadn't caught Saelind's interest was a motivational goal.

Haruhi's had been extremely simple, since she'd merely wanted to try some high-class Sushi and professionally cooked fish.

However, after doing a bit of research, he had discovered Saelind's weakness... and if he played his cards right, he would win her over completely.

So, after snapping his notebook shut, he cleared his throat and said the one thing that could make her halt.

"Oh?" he slyly inquired, smirking when the girl stretched her hand out to put it on the doorknob. "So you don't care that we could have the school fund a surgery that could get rid of your scars and make you beautiful again?"

Saelind's entire body froze and she locked up with her foot in the air and her fingers an inch from the door handle.

Everyone immediately stared at Kyouya in confusion, since they knew just as well as he did that such an endeavor would be extraordinarily expensive.

However, to their immense surprise, Saelind slowly put her foot down and took a deep breath.

"What the hell are you saying?" the girl demanded, not turning around. "Why the hell should I listen to something like that? You people would never do that for me, especially considering the treatment is something... that even my own family found too expensive."

"Ah, yes, well," Kyouya murmured, grinning in a triumphant manner, "since the situation demanded attention, I hired a private investigator to figure out why the daughter of a Duchess, of all people, would have refused to undergo treatment to hide or, at the very least, _lessen,_ such terrible scars. It's actually quite inexpensive considering how much wealth your family has, and that is exactly why I was puzzled. Look at the signs: you're the daughter of a Duchess, yet you live in a rundown Japanese apartment... you don't have furniture, or even enough pocket money to afford a normal uniform."

"Yeah, why _do_ you live there?" Kaoru asked, staring at the girl as though she'd grown another head. "I gotta admit..."

"...those are some weird contradictions," Hikaru finished, giving his brother a stare before they shrugged at the same time. "Really weird, actually."

"I see..." Tamaki whispered, eyes widening when he recalled what Saelind had told the girls on her first day as a Host. "Your parents don't accept you... and because of that, they've put distance between you! You've been cast out!"

"Wrong: I left on my own," Saelind muttered, slowly turning around and lifting her head; everyone, even Kyouya, halted when they saw angry tears streaming from the girl's right eye. "So what if I don't want to rely on a woman who was never there for me in the first place? Even if I did want to, it wouldn't change anything: back before the fire, she and the rest of my household ignored me. So much, in fact, that there were times when I couldn't even tell if I was really alive. I couldn't tell if I was real: it was frightening. And when I got burned, being ignored was even worse. Nobody cared: not family, not friends, not anyone... I was alone. So, what makes you think I would ever believe such a horrible lie?!"

"What do you mean, Sael-chan?!" Honey hesitantly asked, stepping forward and looking at her in confusion. "What lie?"

"The surgery, dumbass!" Saelind snapped, making him flinch. "Why the hell would I trust a bunch of idiots who do nothing but flirt with girls all afternoon to do something that costly for my sake?! You people don't truly care what happens to me, either, so there's no reason for it!"

Before she could say another word, Haruhi's lip curled and she stomped over to the black-haired girl: then, drawing her fist back, she slapped the right side of her face so hard that it left a welt. Saelind's eye widened when the sting rushed through her, and for a long moment, she stared off into space. This was the second time she'd blown up at someone... and once again, Haruhi had slapped her.

"We don't truly care?" she demanded in an angry tone, slowly lifting her eyes and staring at the Russian girl's stunned expression. "Saelind, everyone here is doing this because we're trying to show you that the world isn't as cruel as you think. The people standing in this room are not as shallow they seem: we all have histories that hurt us in some way. You haven't noticed it, though, because it's not burned onto our bodies the way it was with you: can't you see that none of us are truly perfect?"

"What the hell are you saying?" Saelind demanded, glaring at the girl even as several more tears welled up in her eye. "You've been trying to show me that the world isn't as cruel as I think? Don't make me laugh: with each and every day that's passed, you've done nothing but open up old wounds that hurt me in some way or another. Being imperfect is one thing. Being emotionally scarred is another. But when you're scarred like I am, trying to make me look at things I'll never have is the cruelest thing you can possibly do."

"That may be true," Kyouya intervened, smile gone as he stared at her. "However, I don't make false statements: I'm serious about sponsoring the surgery that can give you your old appearance back. It'll be costly, and you will have to work hard for this club to pay us back for it, but we can and will do this for you if you stay. All you have to do is say you're willing. If you want to go, I won't stop you."

Saelind slowly turned to stare at him through several tendrils of her silken hair.

When Honey unexpectedly dropped his rabbit, Takashi blinked and glanced down at him in surprise: it was the first time in years that Usa-chan had ever hit the floor like that. The blonde boy's eyes were large and he was staring at the girl as though he'd been winded. After a moment, the giant slowly followed his cousin's gaze... but when he caught the look on their newest member's face, he felt an unbearable pressure smash into his gut and he almost choked out loud. He stared at her in a similar manner, mouth hanging open.

The girl was looking at Kyouya as though he were a lion that was about to eat her.

Her eye was so large and frightened that it made her seem fragile... but at the same time, there was also a glimmer of something faint.

Hope? Yearning? Excitement? Terror?

It could have been any of those, or none at all.

"Really?" she whispered, hesitantly turning around and staring at him as though he'd bite her head off. "You're not just... saying that? You... if I actually stay in the Host Club, you and the others... would fund the surgery that..."

She trailed off, mouth trembling and muscles starting to shake.

"Of course he would!" Tamaki laughed, bouncing back to his old self and spinning around in a graceful manner. "Kyouya never lies when it comes to a business arrangement, so if he says he'll do something, you can count on him!"

"So, will you stay with us?" Haruhi asked, holding out her hand with a pleading expression. "I can't speak for the others since I'm not them, but I want to be your friend, Saelind."

The girl looked at the girl's hand before she closed her eyes and let out a defeated huff of air, mouth twisting in dismay.

"You people are crazy," she muttered, slowly stepping forward and ignoring the offered hand. "If... that's how you really feel, I'll... I'll stay."

The Host Club instantly let out a cheer, not even realizing that a certain hooded figure was staring at the scene from a crack in his door.

"Yay!" Honey squealed, jumping up in the air before he blinked and grabbed Usa-chan off the ground with a gasp. "I'm sorry Usa-chan! I didn't mean to!"

"Does this mean you're going to be friends with us," the twins simultaneously inquired, smirking at her with mischievous eyes as the walked over and started circling her like vultures. "Saelind, we wanna know if we're friends now!"

The girl narrowed her eyes and her mouth curled.

"No," the girl stated flatly, making them halt and blink at her with expressions of mock hurt. "Ugh, stop with the 'oh, poor me, let's gain sympathy' act! Seriously, you two have to _earn_ things like friendship, especially considering the fact that _still_ I don't trust people very easily. Just because I'm staying in the Host Club doesn't mean I'm going to kiss up to you idiots. God, I'd commit suicide before I ever caught myself doing that. No joke."

"Regardless," Haruhi murmured, letting out a sigh before she smiled. "I'm glad you decided to stay."

Over in the corner, however, Ami was watching the entire scene with a bright glare being reflected off of her glasses.

She was smiling, but nobody could see how irritated she looked as a result of the lighting.

"Yes, well, I hope you're ready to hear what I have to say," Kyouya stated, making everyone glance at him in curiosity: he was frowning at his phone with a very puzzled manner, but after a moment, a small smirk slid across his lips. "According to what I'm reading, the full-body surgery is an extremely long process and even more expensive than I thought. If you decide to stay with us, the amount of girls you'd need to sit with you to make up for the debt would be five thousand more than Haruhi. After all, this surgery costs three million Dollors in American terms. In yen... well, it's quite a lot."

Saelind closed her eyes, silently telling herself that this was an opportunity she might never have again.

"If you can really get rid of these scars," she stated softly, opening her looking up at him with a sharp smile that made everyone's eyes widen. "I'd be willing to stay in the Host Club no matter how long it took to fill the debt. Even if it took until graduation day."

"Well, that's certainly a big claim," Kyouya chuckled, smirk widening even further. "Speaking of which... do you have a dress for your date tomorrow?"

"A... dress?" the Russian girl slowly asked, mind going blank. "Uh, hell no: I left all of my old clothes back home for a reason. But if I'm pretending to be a guy, why the hell would I need one?"

"Nekozawa-senpai has a very odd knack for distinguishing males and females at a first glance," Haruhi hesitantly explained, making everyone aside from Kyouya turn to stare at her with large eyes. "He didn't say anything, but I could tell the first time we ever spoke to each other that he knew I was a girl."

"How, Haru-chan?!" Honey asked, running up to her with large eyes. "How do you know he figured it out?!"

"He referred to me using female honorifics,*" she explained, giving a little shrug. "Most people call me Fujioka-kun. He called me Fujioka-chan."

"Yeah, that is strange," Hikaru muttered, rubbing his chin with a thoughtful expression. "What do you think, Boss?"

"I don't know what to think," Tamaki stated, pressing a hand against his forehead. "Mommy, Dear, why didn't you tell me of this!"

"Because I didn't think it was necessary, _Daddy," _the boy retorted, speaking without looking up; however, a faint smile touched his lips despite the sarcasm lacing his tone, and he seemed mildly amused by the blonde's weird way of addressing him. "However, since he most likely knows that Saelind is a girl, it won't matter if she wears a dress. So, I've already gone over what we have in storage and picked one out. Oh, and I'll have to add one hundred days to pay for the repairs to your blazer."

"Fine, whatever, but do I really have to do this date thing?" the girl muttered, shaking her head in dismay. "Why do I have to date someone I don't even know?! Even if it's for a day only, it's still weird, and I highly doubt this kind of thing is appropriate. And by the way? If that dress you picked out has frills or even lace, I swear to God I will streak through the school and get myself expelled before I put it on."

"Mind if we take pictures?" the twins simultaneously asked, pulling two cameras out of nowhere. "It would be awesome!"

Saelind didn't dignify that with a response... but by the time she walked away with her head held high, two redheads were twitching on the ground with identical hand-shaped welts on their faces and everyone was laughing.

Over in the corner, however, there was someone who didn't even smile.


	21. Chapter 20: Night Out

**Chapter Twenty: Night Out**

Something wasn't right.

Something definitely wasn't right. It wasn't like Saelind to feel paranoid, but something seriously wrong was going on behind her back: she just knew it.

After all, all day long, she'd been given sneaky grins, snickers, and mischievous expression from the twins.

And she'd EVEN caught a few giggles coming from Haruhi.

Which weird in all forms of the word.

_What the heck is going on with them?_ she silently wondered, eyelid twitching in fury. _I might have agreed to stay, but I never said I'd put up with things like their arrogant little snickers. I mean, damn, it's only been a day and they're already acting like someone's about to prank me._

The attention had persisted from the early morning all the way into the afternoon, which made the girl feel even more pissed off than normal. She hated attention, and the fact that they were purposely making her aware that she was getting it made her want to snarl like a teething puppy. However, every time she tried to open her mouth and snap at them, she remembered Kyouya's promise and locked her jaw shut in misery. She wasn't allowed to be mean to the Host Club anymore.

Which, in itself, was actually an agony that she hated with a passion: just because she was part of them didn't mean she'd come to like them.

In fact, even though Kyouya had bribed her into staying, the girl hated him most of all for using her biggest weakness against her.

However, after enduring an entire school day of mischievous whispers and hushed giggles, the black-haired girl approached the twins after class was done.

And glared at them. Fiercely.

"And what, may I presume, are Wannabe Weasley twins up to?" she demanded with a twitching eyelid, ignoring how they guffawed at the comparison she'd used for the infamous movie twins. "Mind explaining what all the annoying whispers and snickers were about?!"

"Oh, no..." Haruhi sighed, covering her face with a small groan. "You just had to bring _that_ comparison up, didn't you?"

"What comparison?" Hikaru instantly snorted, waggling his eyebrows. "There really isn't one, since we're way cuter than the Phelps brothers, hands down."

"Plus, Hikaru and I are natural redheads because our mother was Gaelic," Kaoru sneakily added, lacing his arm through his twin's and making Saelind roll her eyes. "We already have everything that they were supposed to have in the movies, but the difference with _us_ is that _we've_ never _pretended."_

"Hey, guess what? I really don't care one way or the other!" Saelind growled, face turning red with frustration. "I mean, damn, out of everything I just said to you morons, _that's_ the part you latch onto? God, you two are more self-centered than I thought."

"Hey, be nice!" Kaoru pouted, giving her an expression similar to his brother's. "If you don't, we'll tattle on you."

"Besides, if you're asking about what we were whispering about, don't worry," Hikaru drawled, giving her a devious smile. "You'll find out in..."

"... five... four... three... two..." Kaoru finished, checking his watch. "One."

Saelind jumped into the air with a squawk of alarm when the classroom door unexpectedly flew open wide.

"Saaaaaaaeeeell-chaaannn!" Honey happily screamed, making the girl screech in surreal terror: soon he was crashing through the entrance and barreling towards her like a wildebeest on steroids, which made the tiny girl stumble backwards and land on her butt with a thud. "It's tiiiiiiiiiime!"

After the first initial startle, Saelind caught herself and stood up: she then let her visible teal eye lock on his childish face, silently questioning his sanity.

"Excuse me for asking, but what the hell is _so_ important that you had to barge in here screaming?" the dark-haired girl seethed, clenching her fists and averting her eye in embarrassment; it was the first time in a long time that somebody had been able to startle her that badly, and because of her reaction, the visible half of her face had turned bright pink with an embarrassed flush. "That's rude to the teacher and everyone else here."

"But class is over, and no one else _is_ here, right?" Honey innocently asked, blinking and looking around in confusion; then he perked up and jumped up and down, squeezing his bag with glee. "I almost forgot! Sael-chan, you need to come get dressed! There's still lots to do before sunset!"

"Sunset?!" Saelind scoffed, eye widening in outrage. "What the heck is going on with you people?! What's going on at sunset?!"

"Oh?" Kyouya cheekily inquired, walking into the room with the other Host Club members and glancing up at her with an amused flick of his eyes. "Have you forgotten already? You have a date with a certain mister Nekozawa tonight: as instructed in the forums handed out yesterday, every Host is going to be dressing to the match tastes of the person they're accompanying for this event. You also have to do whatever the guest asks of you, since this is their night of bliss, and even if it seems completely ridiculous... you must go along with what they wish for, _unless_ it invades your physical boundaries."

"What?!" the black-haired girl choked, face turning purple with rage; when Kyouya snapped his fingers, two men wearing black suits and dark glasses strode into the room, brazenly grabbed her under the arms, and forcibly dragged her out of the classroom. "AHH! Hey! Let go of me! Get off! NO TOUCHING!"

They didn't let her go and merely ignored her snarls and cat-like hissing until she was standing in front of a dressing room.

Saelind squeaked when she was shoved into the dressing booth, because not even ten seconds afterwards, four young women with identical smiles on their faces walked in with beauty supplies and a box. The girl bit her cheek and squeezed her eyes shut when she was forced to sit down as they did her hair and applied some sort of coating to her face. Then the Ouran Uniform she was wearing was somehow stripped from her body within seconds. Stunned, dazed, and feeling completely exposed, Saelind merely let her mind go blank so she wouldn't go nuts from the hysteria overwhelming her. She really didn't want to risk her future of normalcy by biting someone's hand.

Before she was aware of what was going on, she was being ushered out of the changing booth and the entire of the Host Club was standing in front of her.

They were all donned in white and black tuxedos.

"You look great!" Tamaki exclaimed, nodding happily as he looked at Saelind's slender frame. "I knew that type of dress would be perfect for you!"

"What dress?" Ami asked, poking her head into the room and looking around; everyone glanced at her when she gasped, but Haruhi merely furrowed her brows when the Asian girl clamped two hands to her mouth. After a moment, she slowly walked forward and touched the dress that Saelind was wearing. "Wow! Saelind-chan, you look totally hot!"

Haruhi merely sighed and closed her eyes: one thing was for certain... Ami Kikiroshi was one hell of an actress.

"Huh?" Saelind asked, trying to make her brain work. "What's hot? My brain is partially turned off at the moment, so please leave a message after the beep."

And in a way, what she said was true: she'd detached herself to keep from going crazy.

Which was mainly why she couldn't process anything well enough to bother glancing down at herself.

She was currently wearing a black dress that looked as though it had been made for a porcelain Lolita doll. Her sleek black hair had been curled, so it now hung down her back in voluminous ebony waves. The darkness of the outfit also accentuated her pale skin and the bright color of her aquamarine eye—which, should be said, had been outlined with a fine line of glittering eyeliner and matching mascara. A high collar and long white stockings hid the majority of her skin, and shiny black slippers covered her small feet.

"The dark look is shockingly attractive on her," Haruhi murmured, rubbing her chin with a thoughtful expression. "For one thing, she's small enough to wear a dress like this, and all of her visible facial features work with it. She really does look like a Lolita girl now."

"True," the twins stated, looking highly unsatisfied for some reason, "but there's still something... not quite there."

When everyone looked at them, they finally stalked forward and began to circle the zoned-out teen, both of them frowning intensely.

It was true: there was still something missing, something off.

After a moment, Hikaru took a step back and eyed the girl standing before them with a quirked eyebrow.

Saelind felt undeniably uncomfortable under his scrutinizing amber eyes.

_What else do they want me to do? _she silently mourned, closing her eyes and sighing in dismay. _I'm dressed up like a creepy little doll because of them. _

In truth, if she hadn't been given the opportunity to repair the damage done to her face, she probably would have roundhouse kicked the twins right upside their heads and sent both of them flying out the nearest window. Still, respect and politeness always came first—or at least that's what her mother had taught her. However, in situations like these the girl wondered if it was okay to use a little non-ladylike violence: God knows she wasn't even a real lady, considering she'd always been a fairly violent girl.

The twins finally snapped their fingers in synchronicity, interrupting the girl from her thoughts. Saelind's muscles instinctively tensed when both of them once again walked up to her: she shivered when Kaoru moved behind her and started doing something with her hair, but she couldn't keep from baring her long fangs when Hikaru unfastened the braid keeping her scars hidden and undid it. However, she squeezed her eyes shut when he parted her hair in a different manner and started doing something else.

She felt something being tied behind her head and shuddered... then she felt soft hair sliding against her right cheek.

The twins continued their ministrations until the girl felt like she would go insane from them touching her, but then, they moved back.

And every person in the room gasped, jaws practically hitting the floor.

Saelind's bangs had been parted in a symmetrical manner, styled so beautifully and skillfully that nobody could see the scars on the left half of her face.

A ribbon had been tied into the back of the girl's hair, giving her the look that usually made most young Japanese men go nuts.

However, they weren't finished yet: when Kaoru picked up a lightly pink-tinted strain of lip gloss, the girl froze.

_No, no, no,_ she silently chanted, locking her jaw shut in horror. _If he touches my mouth, I won't be able to stop! I'll bite him!_

However, she tightened her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut when he leaned forward and started applying it to her full lips. A venomous hiss of rage slipped through her teeth when he finally pulled back and capped the gloss, and it was only then that she spoke her mind.

"You know what?" Saelind angrily grumbled, opening her eyes. "If I'd wanted to look like a fashion peacock, I probably could have done all of this by myself."

"You wouldn't have, though," the twins simultaneously chorused, shrugging and glancing at each other with a pair of grins. "So we had to."

With a final step back, Tamaki eyed their masterpiece: the visible parts of her face sparkled as the light caught it due to the glitter in her makeup, and her teal eyes shimmered just as beautifully despite the anger radiating the death glares they'd all grown accustomed to.

"You're as beautiful as any noble now!" Tamaki sighed in a dreamy manner, spinning around in a circle and sweeping Haruhi off her feet; the brunette squawked when she was danced around the room against her will. "Isn't Daddy a wonderful person, Haruhi?!"

"Gah! Tamaki-Senpai, stop it!" the girl squalled, dizzily trying to get free as she was spun around in circles. "Put me down already!"

"Oh, you're right," the blonde murmured, blinking in surprise. "We mustn't keep our guests waiting."

"No, we mustn't," Kyouya agreed, scribbling something down and flipping his notebook closed. "However, due to Nekozawa's condition with light, Saelind will wait for him in the Host Club until the sun has set. On your way back to the music room, put this on so people don't recognize you."

Saelind scowled when she was handed a hooded cloak similar to the one the towering boy from the previous afternoon had been wearing.

Then, without further ado, the girl threw it over her clothes and stormed out of the dressing room before sweeping down the hall like a wraith in black. She didn't want to do this... and when she got back to the abandoned music room, the girl momentarily considered ditching this plan. However, Kyouya was intimidating since he somehow knew what everyone was doing, all the time.

So, at this point, all she could really do was sit down and wait for the doors leading to the unknown room to open.

She sat for about maybe an hour, but after that she started reading a book on the occult she'd found sitting on the table in front of her: who it belonged to, she really didn't know, but she was a big fan of Bram Stoker... especially since Dracula was kind of awesome. She didn't realize that while she was reading, the door slowly opened up and a hooded figure slowly poked its head out into the open. When the shadowy young man then slid outside, the bright lights forced him to withdraw deeper into his hood.

Umehito Nekozawa slowly moved across the floor towards the other similarly-dressed figure, wanting nothing more than to be carving in his room. However, since the Host Club's power kind of scared him, he'd already decided it would be better to go along with them for just one more night. However, when he stretched out a large, pale hand and gently set it on the girl's shoulder, he wasn't expecting her reaction.

One second she was sitting in a fairly relaxed position; the next she was gripping his arm and throwing him over her shoulder with a wild snarl of rage.

"Ahhh!" Nekozawa yelped, landing hard on his back; he flinched and covered his eyes and face when the fluorescent lights above landed on him. "Stop!"

"Okay, rule number one: don't touch me!" Saelind snapped, shuddering violently as she clutched her shoulder. "Rule number two: NEVER startle me!"

"I'm... s-sorry," the boy stammered, practically gliding back to his feet; Saelind blinked and tilted her head back when he was finally standing completely upright, eyes growing larger than they'd been in a while. "I... didn't know you were startled that easily."

"Holy shit," Saelind scoffed, making the boy twitch and stare at her in surprise. "How tall are you?! You're, like, a giant or something!"

"Eehhhh?" Nekozawa drawled in a loose, creepy tone; however, his mouth opened a little in surprise, which sort of countered his manner of speech. She couldn't really see his eyes because his hair was hiding them, but from the little she could see, he hadn't been expecting that sort of inquiry from her. "Well, I gueeessss... you could say that I'm six foot five."

Saelind's mouth dropped.

"You're an inch taller than Mori," she muttered, shivering violently when she thought of the powerful youth. "Great. So, what's the plan for tonight?"

"What do you mean?" the boy slowly inquired, lifting his arms and revealing that there was a cat puppet resting on his left hand. "Plan?"

"I'm supposed to do whatever you want for a night," Saelind muttered, giving a shrug. "Pick something and let's get on with it. I just want to get this over with."

Nekozawa merely stared at her, mouth hanging open a little.

This was certainly unexpected: it seemed as though the person he'd gotten roped into spending time with was just as antisocial as he was. Which was weird, since she'd apparently been forced into joining the Host Club, the most social group in the entire Acadamy. After a moment, however, Nekozawa got an idea that would suit his mood and cocked his head.

"Hmmm... would you perhaps be interested in visiting a creepy abandoned house that nobody but myself knows about?" the burly teen inquired, wriggling the little cat puppet and making Saelind stare in disbelief. "I haven't found the courage to enter it all by myself, and that is saying something since I absolutely adore spooky things."

"Fine," Saelind grumbled, shivering a little before she angrily thrust her finger out, "but you try anything creepy, buster, and my knee is gonna hit your groin!"

With that, she thrust her hand out and gestured for him to lead the way.

Nekozawa didn't hesitate and practically glided out of the room: when Saelind followed, the two of them resembled some very creepy-looking specters.

They swept down the majestic hallways, padded down a couple grand staircases—and a few turns later the two of them were outside and sweeping across the school's grounds. It was already starting to get dark out: the sun wasn't completely gone yet, but there were no direct rays touching the earth. However, Saelind soon began to notice that Umehito snuck through the grounds as though he didn't want to be seen: he avoided all pools of light from the lamps that were scattered throughout the area.

Actually, it was more along the line that he shied away from everything bright.

"Sooo..." Saelind uncomfortably muttered, adjusting her cloak as they left the grounds and walked into a forested area that kind of baffled the girl. "Where exactly is this house you were talking about, and why the heck is it so special?"

"It's in the forests that cover the school's rear grounds," Nekozawa lowly chuckled. "The reason Ouran Academy was built here is a secret that only the headmaster and his grandson are supposed to know about, but I overhead it since I blend in with the shadows. When I am out and about, people usually don't give me a second glance because I am practically darkness itself."

"Sooo... why'd they build the school here?" Saelind sighed, rolling her eyes in an unamused fashion. "Mind getting to the point?"

"To cover up traces of the Silent War," Nekozawa snickered, making the girl blink and stare at him more seriously. "There have been rumors for more than thirty years now that Japan was involved in some sort of Civil uprising called the Silent War, you know: Ouran Academy was built here to hide the evidence that couldn't be destroyed. Some say it was due to several things being found, and others say it was because scientists wanted to study the area since there were signs of bio-terrorism being found around here. After that, however, everything was abandoned and left the way it had been found."

"Seriously?" Saelind asked, completely intrigued by what he was saying; she wasn't even shocked by her own curiosity, since anyone would have been amazed after hearing that. "Are you seriously saying that something so crazy is really hidden on Ouran's school grounds?"

"Yes," Nekozawa confirmed, giving a creepy little cackle. "It's absolutely fascinating, but like I said, I'm not brave enough to go into the house I found alone."

"Honestly, I don't even blame you," Saelind chuckled, startling herself so badly that she clamped a hand over her mouth. "I... I mean, whatever."

"We'll have to climb this wall right here," Nekozawa stated, stopping for a moment. "Do you need help getting over it?"

"A boost would be appreciated, since I'm not exactly the tallest person in the world," Saelind deadpanned, reluctantly glancing up at him. "However, this is literally the one and only time I am ever giving you my permission to touch me. Don't overdo it or I swear to God, I will beat the shit out of you."

When he shrugged and the little cat on his hand rubbed its face with a paw, the girl waited until he knelt down to put her foot in his hands.

Then she shakily put the other, and she placed both hands on the wall as she waited for him to lift: when she felt his muscles heaving, she tensed... but then, without warning, Umehito heaved her up much higher than she'd expected to be going and her feet lost contact with his hands. Flailing, the girl lunged outwards with her arms and dug her fingers into some loose bricks that lined the side of the wall.

"Ehhhh?" the boy drawled in a slow manner from below her, staring up at the girl as she flailed her legs. "You okay?"

However, when he suddenly realized that he could see up the skirt of her dress, his eyes widened and he froze.

Mostly because he'd noticed that she was wearing pale pink underpants with tiny red hearts on the butt cheeks.

_Oh, God,_ he thought, face turning bright red; he turned his eyes away and shivered. _They should have told her to wear pants!_

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Saelind growled breathlessly, unhooking one hand and extending her right arm to catch the ledge above her. Once she had a firm grip on it, Saelind unhooked her other hand and grabbed the ledge with her left hand before she tensed her muscles. "Okay, here we go... I hope to god I can still do it after such a long time!"

Then, tightening her stomach muscles and arm muscles, the slender girl legitimately pulled herself up in a straight line and slipped her body into an incredibly flexible handstand: Umehito's eyes widened and he twitched when he saw how well she was keeping her balance. Then, expertly flipping her hands around, the girl whimpered in pain and slowly brought her legs down behind her like a contortionist, planting her feet on the structure.

Then she righted herself with her arms spread for balance.

Dusting herself off, the girl turned around and stared down at him before sliding halfway off the opposite side and holding out her hands. In the blink of an eye, Nekozawa jumped up and clamped onto her: the girl strained her muscles and pulled him up, whining at the sound of her shoulders popping from the weight. Once he was also on the wall, the two of them jumped down to the other side.

"Ow..." Saelind groaned, shuddering violently. "I haven't done gymnastics in a long time... that seriously hurt the left half of my body."

"_Gomen Nasai,_" Nekozawa moaned like a ghoul, making his puppet kitty clap its hands. "Shall we go?"

"Sure," the girl muttered, shrugging off the pain with a grumble. "So, where to?"

"Follow me," the boy said mysteriously, gliding off into the forest without another word. Saelind sighed and followed him, prancing to keep up with his long-legged strides: they plodded along for some time through before they came upon a clearing with an abandoned two story house standing in the middle of a dead-zone area. Nothing was growing around the house, not even the trees. "We're here..."

"Whoa!" Saelind whispered, raising her eyebrows in shock. "You weren't kidding!"

"Let's go inside," Nekozawa whispered, looking for all the world like a little boy on Christmas. "I want to see what it looks like in there."

"If you say so," Saelind murmured, staring at the creepy house in awe. "I thought you were making it up, honestly: this is actually really, really cool! How'd you find this place?"

"I was exploring the school at night like I always do, since I live in the school itself," Nekozawa chuckled lowly, giving her a seemingly twisted smile; Saelind cocked an eyebrow and wondered if he even knew how creepy he looked. "It was on one of those nights that I decided to leave the main grounds... and because of it, I found this house as well as four others in these woods. Nothing grows around them: it's all dead."

"Well, it's an amazing discovery, that much is true," Saelind replied, blinking a few times in surprise before the two of them walked up to the old wooden house. The stairs of the front porch creaked underneath their feet, telling the girl how old it must have been: Saelind breathed in amazement and stretched out a hand to turn the rusted doorknob. However, it wouldn't budge. "Aww... that sucks. It's locked."

"Did you honestly expect a house this old to be open?" Nekozawa teased, crouching down and using a pins that he withdrew from his cloak to pick the old lock. After hearing the small click of success, he looked up at her with a twisted smile. "I'm a genius, however."

So saying, he stood up and carefully pushed the door open: the rusted hinges protested loudly, making a screeching sound that had Saelind wincing.

"Admittedly, yes I did—but I can say that I wasn't expecting to discover that you're good at breaking and entering other people's houses," Saelind slyly noted as she walked past him and entered the building. "Makes me wonder what you do in your free time."

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Nekozawa cackled with a creepy grin. "Just as there is a lot I don't know about you. We're strangers, remember?"

"Duh," the girl sighed, sarcastically rolling her visible eye before she hesitantly glanced around. "Still... this place is amazing."

In truth, that wasn't even a lie: the house was dark, musty, and years of dust had covered just about everything inside.

It was alarmingly old... and apparently, they were standing in what used to be the living room; ahead of them was an archway that led to what looked like a kitchen, and beyond that was a set of stairs that headed to the second floor. The kitchen had a joined dining room, and off to the left was door that most likely led to either a pantry or the basement.

Oddly enough, the home had a western style build.

"Let's check out the upstairs first," Nekozawa suggested, silently reasoning that it would be best to start from the top and work their way down. Saelind gave him a small nod and the two of them headed up the creaky old stairs. However, when they were only halfway up, one of the stairs gave under the girl's feet and she fell partway through.

"EEK! H-help! Help me!" she shrieked, eyes instantly becoming huge with terror; she extended her fingers and dug them into the nearest surface just before she slid through the hole that had opened up beneath her. Her body jerked to a halt, but she was now clinging onto the remaining stairs with nothing more than her fingernails: most of her body was dangling above a terrifying darkness that loomed like a chasm beneath her body. "U-um, help me! Please?!"

"Here, take my hand," Nekozawa stammered, extending his arm to her; the girl instantly flailed and shakily grabbed onto his palm. Straining, the hooded boy struggled to pull her up, but once he did he jerked her against his chest a little too hard: both of them stumbled and fell against the stairs, but Saelind was shaking so badly that her fear of being touched had been forgotten. For a few moments, she didn't even realize that she was clinging to a guy she didn't even know due to the adrenaline coursing through her. "A-are you okay?"

It took the girl a moment to answer: her eyes were blank as the memories of falling through another floor played before her eyes.

Her past was once again flickering to the surface, reminding her of who she was and why she hated physical contact.

Shaking violently, she finally managed to push herself away from him and hugged herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, swallowing hard and staring at the ground, "but that was... that was really, really scary."

"Hold my hand, then," Nekozawa moaned, taking her left hand before leading the girl upstairs. "I don't want either of us falling through the floor."

The girl shuddered and decided to ignore her instincts for once: she could put up with this until they got out of here, because he was actually correct.

Between holding a hand she didn't want to hold and falling to her death because of her own stubborn attitude, she wasn't dumb enough to choose the latter.

On the second floor were three bedrooms with antique Japanese-style furniture—though most of it had been badly damaged, and all of it was covered in cobwebs. Umehito slowly opened another door and revealed an ancient bathroom that was just as badly damaged as the rest of the house: Saelind cringed at the sight of dead cockroaches lying in the tub.

Not finding anything else of interest, the two of them went back down the stairs—avoiding the hole that Saelind had almost fallen through.

When they walked into the kitchen, however, a familiar scent caught the girl's nose and she froze.

Fire.

She smelled fire.

Sniffing the air, Saelind absently let go of Nekozawa's hand and walked over to the sink before looking down at it.

Her blood ran cold and she stiffened, eye widening in shock: there were dark blood stains on the sink that looked to be nearly a hundred years old.

"Um, hey," she whispered, looking at the sink with a blank expression, "there's blood in here."

"Huh? How can you tell?" the boy lowly replied, walking up behind her and peering over her shoulder with his kitty puppet. "Are you sure it isn't rust? I can't really make out one stain from the other because of how old everything is."

However, the girl's teal eye was already following the trail of blood that led down the sink and off into the house towards a closed door.

Not listening to him, she followed the bloodstains on the floor with a thudding heart: there was so much of it…

"Hey, don't wander off," Nekozawa called; however, when the girl ignored him, he chased after her and caught her arm. "Really, don't wander off! This house is very old and dangerous—not to mention its falling apart at the seams!"

"Ugh, let go of me!" Saelind snapped, jerking her hand free and turning around to face him. "Seriously, look at all the—"

However, she froze when the house itself suddenly seemed to let out a shrieking groan: just as the two of them looked up in startled alarm, the floor beneath their feet suddenly dropped nearly half a foot and started caving in without warning—sending both teens falling to their knees. Saelind squeaked in terror just as Nekozawa looked up at her: then the sound of ripping wood screeched around them and a void of empty shadows started opening up below their hands and knees. Just before she fell, Saelind's teal eye became huge with terror. Then she was falling... and screaming at the top of her lungs.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she slammed into the ground and everything went quiet and dark.


	22. Chapter 21: Alone in the Dark

**Author's Note:** _I asked Saelind if I could once again start switching back and forth between the story cover with her real face and the anime cover I had before it! _Ya know, the one I spent two and a half weeks on:_ if ya didn't know, it basically depicts a drawn OHSHC version of Saelind, or rather... what I pictured she'd look like if she'd been animated onto Ouran. Guess what she said? You got it: HELL YES! :D Lol, it's not like I needed permission anyway, but it still makes me feel nice to know that she liked it enough to NOT give one of her trademark death glares! So, Enjoy!_

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><p><span><strong>Chapter Twenty-One: Alone in the Dark<strong>

Pain.

Her entire body was filled with it... but, somehow, she wasn't hurting as badly as she should have been.

Slowly opening her eyes, the girl was dazed to see nothing but darkness all around her.

"Ow..." Saelind whined, closing her eyes fighting to move her heavy limbs even as her head slowly swam out of the darkness. "What just happened?"

She shifted slightly when she felt an extreme amount of pressure on top of her, but when the girl opened her eyes a second time, she only found more darkness. However, she suddenly realized that there was something warm resting on her face—and after recalling what had just happened, the girl squirmed under the weight as panic began flooding her heart. It was just like being back in the Penthouse Apartments, but without all the heat and fire.

When Nekozawa suddenly groaned and stirred, however, she realized with a jolt that it was him on top of her body.

"Ugh… what a headache," he moaned, lifting himself halfway up and making some of the rubble slide off of his back in the process; Saelind twitched and her mouth slowly opened in surprise when a shred of cloth was moved out of the way. The boy in front of her had somehow gone from being a creepy-looking black-haired youth to a rugged-looking prince with platinum blonde hair. "Are you injured?"

Saelind couldn't catch her breath long enough to answer: she was in total shock.

His eyes were utterly entrancing... from what she could see, they were such a light shade of blue that they almost seemed to emit their own light.

"Yeah," she finally croaked, shivering when she realized that she'd just relived her worst nightmares twice in the same night. "I didn't hit my head."

"Good," the boy murmured, letting out a sigh of relief and closing his eyes as he lowered his own head. "Ow... wish I could say the same. Keheheheh."

"Are you okay?" Saelind tentatively asked, realizing with a horrified jolt that he'd protected her from the debris that had come crashing down around them by using his own back as a shield. "Oh, God, did you seriously take a fall for me...? You're not hurt, are you?!"

"I am fine," he drawled, giving her the same twisted grin as before; the girl's heart skipped a beat and her face turned bright pink in surprise, since his smile actually wasn't creepy at all. In fact, it was more goofy than anything else, but that part had been hidden just as much as his face had been. "It _did_ hurt, but not enough to cause a serious injury. Don't worry."

Saelind could feel his breath on her cheeks since his face was hovering only an inch above hers.

"Y-you look like a totally different person," Saelind stated weakly, staring at him with an uncomfortable teal eye. "Why do you wear that hood all the time?!"

His smile was gone in an instant and he immediately looked around for his wig.

However, the moment he turned, a piece of floorboard creaked above them and suddenly came swinging down like a pendulum, hitting the blonde right on the back of the head. The impact smacked his face downwards and forced his lips collide with Saelind's. And in the small girl's mind, for a brief second, time unexpectedly froze: her senses went numb... her mind went blank... and her raging instincts fell silent for the first time in her life. When she made the connection of what had just occurred, her eye widened.

it couldn't be happening.

It wasn't, right?

But... if that was the case, why was her heart hurting in so many terrible ways...?

And why was it, that in one way alone... somehow... it didn't hurt at all?

Was he actually kissing her?!

She didn't understand. Her senses and instincts should have been forcing her body to move, to fight, to claw... to run.

But she was frozen.

However, before she could force herself to move, he jerked away of his own accord and clutched his skull with both hands.

"AAAGH!" Nekozawa squalled, rubbing his bruised skull and acting like nothing odd had just happened. "Nyaaaah! That time it hurt! Ow!"

Saelind slowly stared off onto space, not able to comprehend anything at all: it hadn't been a real kiss.

Just an accident.

Relief flooded through her, making her frigid personality dissolve without any warning whatsoever: before she could control it, an unbearably light feeling welled up from within her chest... and she started choking violently in an attempt to stay quiet. However, her struggle caught the boy's attention, so he stopped grumbling long enough to look at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, wondering for a moment whether he'd hurt her by accident. "Are you truly all right, Heseroph-san?"

By way of answer, the black-haired girl girl let her head thump back to the floor, took a deep breath—and burst into hysterical laughter. Which utterly dumbfounded and confused the boy straddling her waist: feeling a little unnerved, the pale youth started looking around for his Beelzenef puppet and his black wig, both of which he put in their respectful places..

"S-sorry," Saelind squeaked out between laughs, momentarily forgetting everything going on around her due to the absurdity of the situation she'd fallen into. "I-it's just… funny how you thought everything was okay, but the moment you relaxed you got whacked in the head by a wooden board! Wow!"

"Ehhh...?" he droned, looking at her with a peeved expression as he dragged his wig back on. "You find the pain of others to be comical?"

"Hell yes!" Saelind nervously laughed, trying to cover up just how shaken up she'd been due to what had happened; then she noticed a dark trail of blood running down the boy's chin from the corner of his bottom lip. The girl instantly clutched her mouth, teal eye bugging out of her skull: she could taste blood on her top fang. "Crap... are you okay? My tooth punctured your lip..."

"What?" he inquired, slowly lifting a hand and touching the blood on his chin before examining it. "Interesting... how sharp are your teeth?"

"Let's just say that I've been compared to a vampire before," Saelind grumbled, hesitantly pulling a handkerchief out of her pocket and shakily dabbing at the boy's chin; despite her reluctance to touch him, she couldn't help but wince when she saw how deep the puncture on his mouth really was. "Jesus... I am so sorry."

When he unexpectedly drew back, the way he looked her made the girl feel as though she were five years old: it kind of pissed her off.

"I may be allergic to sunlight, but I'm not made of glass," he drawled, slowly pulling his hood up and rising to his feet. "How do we get out of here?"

"How am I supposed to know?" the girl snapped, feeling her normal grouchy self rising back to the surface. "We fell through a frigging floor."

"I'd assume this is the basement, then," Umehito sighed, looking around and making the cat puppet clap its little hands. "Where are the stairs?"

"Who knows?" Saelind muttered, rolling her visible eye with a shiver. "We might as well explore a bit now that we're stuck down here."

"All right," Nekozawa replied, nodding in agreement. "I wonder if we'll find anything down here?"

When the two of them were standing up again, Saelind was kind of surprised that they could see the basement a little: a small amount of moonlight was spilling in through the hole they'd made. In the farthest corner of the room, there were bookshelves lining the walls with an antique desk nestled between them. Feeling curious, Saelind carefully walked over to the writing table, trying not to trip on the debris in the process. When she reached the desk, she examined the contents resting on its surface: an old-fashioned Japanese calligraphy quill, blank sheets of paper, and a drinking glass.

Not finding the items interesting, the girl began rummaging through the drawers.

After opening the last one, however, she found a leather-bound notebook of some sort and paused, teal eye widening in surprise.

"Hey, Mr. Shady Beanpole!" Saelind called, aquamarine gaze fastened to the cover of the volume. "I think I just found a diary!"

"Ehhh? Really?" Nekozawa droned, gliding over to her after he'd finished surveying the vast collection of books. The girl eagerly opened the dusty notebook, sneezing in the process: the binding contained loose sheets of yellowed paper and a collection of letters. "Wow. You really did."

"Well, I mean, I _think_ it's a diary," she replied after a moment of trying to read the words. "I can't make out what it says, though. It's not in Russian, English, _or _Japanese."

"Oh, I have something that should help," Nekozawa said, pulling a candle out of his cloak and lighting it with a match. "There we go."

"Whoa!" Saelind snorted, doing a double take and staring at the form of light in surprise; she was feeling more than a little baffled by his personality quirks. "Do you always carry around random crap like that? Seriously, why do you have a candlestick in your pocket?"

"I may seem like I embody Darkness itself," he replied with a smirk, amusement dancing in his half-hidden expression, "but sometimes, things are too dark for even _me_ to see since I'm human just like everyone else."

"Uh, duh?" she sarcastically retorted, rolling her eye before focusing on the writing, "'_May 27th, 1861?!'_ Holy crap, this is _old!"_

_"'Dear_ _Diary…'_" Nekozawa read aloud, peering over her shoulder and looking undeniably curious. "_Today is the fifth year since we've started living in our new home. It's comfortable, and I can't wait to have children. Kenta and I have decided to have two children, so we made three bed chambers on the upper floor…_'"

"So it _is_ a diary," Saelind whispered, feeling totally awed. "We could probably make a fortune from this thing if we took it to a museum!"

"True, but we have no need for things like money, right?" Umehito chuckled, giving her a smirk. "Why not save it for someone less fortunate?"

Saelind was too busy staring at something that had been tucked within the pages to hear that particular remark.

"Hey... look at this," she finally murmured, unfolding the old paper that had been sticking out of the pages. "It says, 'Dear Karin… how are you doing, darling? I know it has only been a month since I was drafted into the Korean militia, but I miss you terribly, my sweet love…' Wait, does this really say the Korean Militia? Were there things happening with Korea back then?"

"Eeeh? I don't remember," Nekozawa stated simply, tilting his head with a crooked grin. "It's like we've just invaded someone's personal life."

"True, but I want to read this diary," she stated, eye bright with an unfathomable amount of hunger. "This is an opportunity of a lifetime!"

"If you say so," Nekozawa acknowledged. "Let's sit down."

Moments later, they found an oil lamp and—after settling down against the wall—Saelind curled up next to Nekozawa and the two of them began reading the diary. Based on the first few entries, the two of them managed to learn that it had belonged to a Japanese woman named Karin Aminogatari: they followed the young woman's story about her and her husband, Kenta... even going as far reading the love letters that had been exchanged between them.

In the diary—as well as one of the letters—Karin had written of her pregnancy: she had also written in the letter to Kenta that she'd become pregnant with his baby, cheerfully explaining that it had been conceived right before he'd left. The man's adorable reaction had been written so descriptively that Saelind and Nekozawa had both smiled without knowing it.

In later letters, the couple had started bantering about the name their child should have had, which thoroughly amused the teens.

"'I would truly love to have a daughter, but as long as it is our child, then it does not matter to me,'" Saelind quietly read, speaking aloud as her teal eye flitted across the letter that Nekozawa was holding. "'This child is proof of our love and union. We have become one through him or her, and for that, I will love the outcome no matter what.'"

"Impressive," the boy sitting beside her droned, turning the letter over as his puppet clapped its hands. "He must have really been in love."

"Well, it's not like they could choose the gender of the child anyway," Saelind said calmly, knowing full and well what it was like to love someone and feeling completely bitter about it. "The fact that he accepted her regardless was only natural, right?"

"True," the boy said with a small nod of acknowledgement, "but if you consider what Era this was written in, baby girls were often considered useless by some families. In extreme cases, children were sometimes abandoned."

When Saelind shook her head with a sigh, he picked up yet another letter and they started reading again.

The couple had finally settled on naming the child Yuzuru if it was a boy, and Kanade if it was a girl.

After all, they'd wanted a child to represent Music.

Later on, Karin had written in one of the letters about giving birth to a daughter, and the news nearly made her husband die of joy. As they followed the story, Umehito and Saelind lost track of the time—and because the two of them were so immersed in their reading, they also forgot where they were. However, when the teenagers were halfway done with the diary and all of the letters in it, Saelind's brow furrowed when something odd caught her eye.

After a moment, she pulled out a tattered piece of parchment and unfolded it: this paper was different from the others.

* * *

><p><em>My Beloved Karin.<em>

_ I am glad that our daughter is doing wonderful, but I have some grave news. Yet, before I say anything, I want you to know that you are my beloved wife and will be the only woman to ever hold my heart. These last couple days we have been engaged in a battle with the Chinese Army, and we have been losing: many of our men have already fallen, and I am afraid that our troops won't win this fight. My heart is filled with sorrow and it tears me apart to write about this, but I might never hold my beautiful daughter or even see your face again. Know one thing, though: no matter if I live or die, I will always be there to watch over you. Your beloved, Kenta._

* * *

><p>Skipping through some diary pages, the girl found an old tear-stained telegram informing Karin of her husband's death.<p>

Nothing else was written in the diary aside from a few sentences that made no sense whatsoever.

_Something is coming from the woods. I feel it in the air: the house is alive, and my daughter is not well. There are ghosts inside.  
>Silence. The silence. It is alive inside this house, as well as my heart.<em>

After that, the diary was empty.

"Well, that was depressing," Saelind grumpily muttered, leaning against the wall and staring out at nothing. "I thought this would have had a happy ending."

"Fairytale endings are very rare," Umehito murmured in a very lofty voice. "That's why the few stories that have them are remembered."

They sat there together in a depressed silence for a long time before Saelind finally stood up and searched the rest of the desk and bookshelves, hoping to find another diary or at least a letter explaining what had happened to Karin and Kanade.

"There's nothing else," she said with a disappointed sigh. "No fair."

"There's an extra room over there," Nekozawa offered, pointing to an old wooden door. "Maybe we'll find something in there."

Walking over to it, he turned the key that was already in the padlock and pushed it open, not waiting for Saelind to join him.

"It's just a wine cellar," he sighed in defeat, looking around at the racks of different wines and several barrels. "Albeit, a very old one."

"Wow!" Saelind murmured, examining a bottle with a startled expression. "This is... holy shit! All of these bottles are worth more than two million each! People don't even make these wines anymore! Look at the logos: they were made by companies that vanished off the face of the earth before World War One even took place! And judging by the dates, these are gonna be really, really good! Let's try some!"

"How about not," Nekozawa snorted, grabbing the wine bottle from her hands and setting it back where it was. "You're more trouble than I thought."

Before she could so much as hiss, he guided her away from the alcohol.

"You don't know much about me, either," she countered with a sour expression. "For example—I'm not a Barbie doll. I can probably handle alcohol."

"I guess we're even then," he murmured, closing the door behind them without locking it. "So, want to continue exploring?"

Saelind didn't answer him: she was staring at something in the corner of the room that had caught her attention.

"What _is_ that?" she whispered, teal eye large and focused. "Give me your candle for a second... something's moving over there."

"Huh? A ghost?!" he asked, head flying up so fast that his shining blue eyes were revealed. "Is it a ghost?!"

Once again, Saelind didn't answer.

Feeling her heart thudding deep within her chest, the girl slowly stepped forward towards the object that was moving in the farthest corner of the basement. It was swaying back and forth... but the closer she got, the more her gut seemed to tighten. All of her instincts went on alert, and something was telling her to get the hell away from the house.

"Something's not right," Saelind whispered, slowly approaching the object.

"What do you mean?" Nekozawa inquired. making his puppet nod at her when she lifted the candle a little higher. "What's not right?"

Saelind was just about to fire off a retort to be quiet when she stiffened and abruptly clamped a hand over her nose and mouth.

Her teal eye widened to the size of a saucer as a sudden and _very_ awful smell hit her nose.

"Oh, Jesus!" the girl choked out, trying not to throw up; she gagged and shook her head as she heaved. "Ew! Oh, God… _yuck_."

"What's wrong?" Nekozawa happily inquired, glancing at her with hopeful eyes. "You're acting strangely! Do you feel something?!"

"No, but something smells really, _really_ bad," Saelind replied in a muffled tone, glancing around with watering eyes. "Ugh, yuck..."

When she found the source of the smell, however, the girl froze with a look of terror on her face. Nekozawa only glanced at her expression once, but even _that_ was enough to make his hair stand on end... albeit in a good way, since he was a paranormal fanatic and adored situations like these. The hooded boy instantly turned to face whatever she was staring at, but sadly, nothing aside from the swaying white object met his gaze. Knowing that they probably needed light quickly, he fumbled with another candle and lit a match.

"Tell me I'm _not_ really seeing that," the girl hissed, face tight in dismay. "Tell me that's not what I _think_ it is. I'm about to freak!"

"What are you looking at?" Nekozawa cheerfully demanded, finally getting the candle to light properly. "It has to be a ghost, right?!"

Soon, a much brighter glow lit the room they had entered, but instead of seeing something to get excited about, the pale youth's expression began to mirror Saelinds's: the candlelight was dancing across what appeared to be the swinging skeleton of a woman who's head had been impaled on a hooked spike. The Russian girl was horrified even further to notice that the white thing she'd originally spotted was a white nightgown.

However, that wasn't all: around them were the skeletons of several people... some were leaning on the wall and others lay on the ground.

Yet, all of them were people who had once been alive.

Nekozawa and Saelind slowly started backing away from the sight until a flash of something dark near the other side of the room caught the girl's attention.

"What was that?!" the girl choked, eye widening in shock; she immediately pointed, frantically waving her hand. "Did you see it?! Something is down here with us! It moved! This isn't normal!"

"This..." Nekozawa whispered, slowly looking around in delight, "this is... like something straight out of a book about ghost stories. Amazing."

"H-hey, let's go back to the Academy," Saelind stammered, shivering violently as they looked around for the door. "Better yet, let's go back to my apartment."

"Ehhhh?" Nekozawa droned, glancing down at her with a mild expression of surprise. "Are you inviting me to your home? On a first date no less?"

"Um, excuse me for not wanting to be by myself after seeing something so freaky! And this isn't a date!" Saelind snapped, looking around with a flashing teal eye. "Seriously, let's just get out of here... something about this place feels wrong."

"Well, we could if we knew where the stairs were," Nekozawa pointed out, making the girl blink and turn around in a slow circle. "This is an odd room."

"What the fuck?" Saelind muttered, quirking an eyebrow and glancing at the barren walls. "No way... it has furniture, so there has to be a way in."

"It's built on a hill..." Nekozawa admitted, making the girl blink at him. "Behind the house was a steep incline. Maybe the way in was sealed off."

"EH?!" Saelind shrieked, eyes widening in horror. "NO WAY!"

When the girl backed away, she unexpectedly bumped into a skeleton leaning against the wall by accident, causing the skeleton's head to loll forward and rest on his shoulder. When the girl glanced at it, she let out a high-pitched shriek and took off towards the mead hatch like a spooked animals. Nekozawa instantly followed her when she threw it open and bolted inside: after that, she shut the door behind them.

"So, what are we doing in here?" Nekozawa droned, glancing at her with an amused expression. "Should we wait until someone finds us?"

"No way in hell," Saelind murmured, shaking her head in anger; she glanced at the candles they were holding in dismay. "Let's figure out a way to get out of this creepy place. Some plan Tamaki came up with... God, I hate the Host Club."

"Why'd you join them, then?" Nekozawa droned, seeming to be at ease in the cobweb-filled storeroom. "It doesn't seem natural to hate those you joined."

"Oh, they blackmailed me into doing what they wanted, same as they do everyone else," the girl grumbled, shivering a little. "What the hell happened here?"

"I don't know," Umehito chuckled, giving her a toothy grin, "but this is a haunting goldmine! I should get more members for my club so we can investigate it!"

Before anything else could be said, a loud click came from the door in front of them and both teens started violently: Saelind's eye slowly widened and she froze.

"Please tell me that wasn't what I think it was?" she whispered, shrinking backwards against the wall with a terrified expression. "Please?"

Nekozawa merely stood up and walked over to the door with a puzzled frown... but then, he tried to turn the knob.

And it wouldn't budge.

"It was," he stated happily, giving her a delighted grin. "The door somehow locked itself. This place is haunted!"

Saelind's only response to that was to let her head thump back against the wall and let out a heavy sigh of dismay.

"Well," she finally muttered, closing her visible teal eye, "at least we have some candlelight."

As if some unholy thing were trying to make her life worse, both candles suddenly flickered and went out, enshrouding them in darkness.

For a long moment, neither of them said a word... nothing was spoken.

"I don't think whatever's in this place likes you very much," Nekozawa finally moaned, letting out a breathy chuckle. "It's almost rather funny."

"Shut up, Mr. Shady Beanpole," Saelind grumbled, not wanting to think about the swaying skeleton only one room away. "It's not funny."

And in truth, it wasn't. Not at all.

But did that stop Nekozawa from sniggering and clapping his little puppet's hands?

Nope.


	23. Chapter 22: A Story To Remember

**Chapter Twenty Two: A Story To Remember**

Saelind didn't want to admit it, especially herself, but being stuck inside that old wine cellar... well, she was scared.

No... scared was too dull of a word.

She was terrified.

To her, darkness was a visual of the emptiness that had always surrounded her back in Russia... it was a reminder of the time when everyone had completely ignored her, had acted as though she hadn't existed. Whenever it was dark, she was reminded that she was alone: that's why she was scared of it. And right then, in a room that was darker than anything she had ever been subjected to, she was so terrified that she couldn't stop shaking.

At the moment, she and Umehito Nekozawa were sitting against the farthest wall of the old cellar, facing the door.

However, maybe it was a good thing it was so dark... her entire body was shaking and she had her head buried in her knees, a sure sign of how scared she was really feeling. She hated the dark... she hated it: shadows were fine, and even moderate darkness like her apartment during the night was okay, but this? This was like being in an empty void with nothing but the sound of her own breathing to keep her company. Oh, _and_ a bizarre young man who had a tendency to chuckle and mutter random things at the weirdest times. Umehito hadn't brought anymore matches, so they were stuck with no light... and no way out.

The silence finally started grinding on the Russian girl's nerves, so she spoke up, voice coming out a little more shaky than she would have liked.

"How do you think... she died?" Saelind asked, not lifting her head from her knees. "The lady out there, I mean... the one in the nightgown."

"Eehhh...?" Nekozawa drawled in that slow, sleepy tone; the way he spoke made it seem as if he didn't care one way or another. "Well, since there were multiple skeletons lying around her, she was probably attacked during the Silent War. That's the only guess I can come up with."

Saelind's brow twitched and she clenched her jaw, not really getting the whole 'silent war' thing.

"Well, who do you think she is?" Saelind inquired, finally lifting her head and abruptly closing her eye. "Could it be Karin...? Or... Kanade?"

"It was most likely Karin-san," Umehito drawled, letting out a sleepy sigh. "Remember the letters? Her husband sent her a beautiful white nightgown made with the finest embroidery while he was out and about."

"Yeah, I do remember that," the girl muttered, touching the dress she'd been forced to wear with a small sigh. "It's such a sad story... but seriously, what the hell do you think happened down here? I mean, she died so horribly, and... and... all of those people died with her! It's... frightening, in a way."

"Hmmm... I don't really know," Nekozawa snickered, making the girl wince. "I have to admit, though, I'm feeling rather good about this place being haunted."

"Could you kindly shut your mouth until we get out of here?" Saelind squeaked, face flaming bright red with shaky irritation. "I mean, damn! That isn't the type of thing I want to be hearing right now!"

"Gome nasaiiii..." Nekozawa moaned, sounding like a ghoul on a good day. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm not scared!" Saelind screeched, sounding for all the world like a woman having a serious PMS rampage. "I'm not scared at all!"

For a long moment, there was nothing but silence, and the girl internally winced for taking her anger out on him.

For all she knew, he was just as scared as she was, and that made her feel guilty.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Saelind muttered, burying her chin in her knees with a much more reticent sigh. "It's really not your fault that I'm angry, so don't take it that way... please. I'm pretty sure Kyouya would make me suffer if he found out that I yelled at you when this is supposed to be your special day or whatever, but honestly... darkness like this... it really does scare me."

"Ehhh?" Nekozawa sleepily drawled, sounding somewhat curious. "Why are you scared of the dark?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Saelind immediately stated, not even waiting for him to finish the end of the question; however, it was in that moment when a terrifying thought shocked Saelind's gut. "H-hey... didn't you say earlier that you're the only one who knows about this place?"

"Yes, that is correct... or, at least, I would assume so," Nekozawa drawled, sounding rather curious. "I doubt any of the other students would have wandered this far into the woods, so I'm pretty sure it's only me."

"Nobody knows?!" Saelind whimpered, pupil dilating and sweat breaking out across her face; she sat up straight with tense shoulders. "Seriously?! But... b-but... if that's the case, how are we gonna get out of here?! We're trapped and the door somehow locked itself from the outside!"

"I don't know," Umehito ghoulishly moaned; the girl could just picture him shrugging. "Maybe we could try kicking the door down?"

"Fat chance," the Russian girl snorted, shivering in dismay. "Did you see what the door was made of when you lit your candles? It's pure metal! This house might be old, but I doubt it's old enough for a sturdy door like _that_ to go down with the firepower we've got under our belts."

"Well, how about we sing a school song, then?" Umehito chuckled, making the girl scowl and shake her head in revulsion. "Singing seems to help whenever people get stuck in situations like the one we're in... do they not?"

"I'll pass on the school songs," Saelind sourly grumbled, planting her chin on her knees. "I don't like anything about Ouran Academy aside from it's success rate: that's the ONLY reason I'm still going there. In truth, my mother was the one who picked the school: I didn't have a choice."

For a long moment, Umehito was quiet.

"You know? I like darkness like this," the boy finally moaned, chuckling in a low manner. "In the darkness, you can't see anything... it shelters those who need it. After all, in brightly lit places, people can't help but see _everything_. For some, that can be scary... and that's why they hide in the shadows, be it physically, or metaphorically."

"Weirdo... did you morph into a fortune cookie while I wasn't paying attention?" Saelind sarcastically demanded. "What the hell was all that about?"

"It means, that there are times when you can let yourself come into the light," Nekozawa chuckled, making the girl scowl. "Like now, for instance: what better time than when you're surrounded in complete darkness?"

Saelind felt anger blooming within her as a natural reflex upon hearing his statement.

"What are you playing at?" the girl slowly demanded. "Are you telling me... that you want me to talk about things I _don't_ want to talk about?!"

"We could always go back to the school song idea," Umehito sniggered, making the girl's eye snap open in outrage. "Isn't it my special niiiight?"

Saelind squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath to scream at him, but she caught a mental flash of Kyouya taking her chance at a normal life away. In that moment, her throat caught and she choked a little. She sat there in the dark for the longest time, mouth fighting to work... wanting nothing more than to run away... but she was trapped. The Host Club had so much power over her that she was currently being roped into talking about everything she'd wanted to forget.

"You're really cruel, you know that?" Saelind whispered, feeling the sting of suppressed tears in her right eye. "You're the worst."

"Eh?" Nekozawa asked, sounding a little startled by the unexpected statement. "What did I do?"

"Nothing at all," the girl retorted lifelessly, letting her head thump back against the wood. "I'm the one in chains, after all, so don't worry about it. I just hope you're ready for everything I'm about to tell you. Fair warning: this isn't a happy subject, and if you say anything to anyone about it, I'll murder you."

"Eheheheh..." Nekozawa chuckled, making the girl's eyebrow twitch. "Fine by me."

Saelind was quiet for a long time, and her chest was hurting... she felt so sick, knowing that she was talking to a total stranger about herself. It made her want to vomit and start crying. She hated the Host Club and everyone in it more than anything else in the world right then... but, after a moment, she used one of her oldest tactics and let her consciousness float away from her. She became detached, the same way that she'd done countless times after she'd been burned.

Soon, her mouth was moving and she felt next to nothing.

She was outside of herself.

"I'm not sure if you know this, but my mother is the Grand Duchess of Russia," the girl stated blankly, voice coming out almost robotic. "She and I don't get along very well, so... let's just say that we're not on good terms. After I was scarred up, my mother kept me locked up in a room like this for months on end. There were no windows because of the paparazzi, and the only light switch was broken, so it was always pitch black. I hate the dark because it brings back memories of when I was locked in that room. Alone."

Umehito was silent.

"That was heavier than I expected," he said after a long moment in time. "Did your own mother really do that to you?"

"Well, what else could she do?" Saelind asked, turning her head with a glazed teal eye. "She's the grand duchess of the Russian Federation... I mean, yeah, it was... unpleasant, but it's not like I don't understand why she did what she did. Having someone like me hanging around could ruin the reputation of the country: paparazzi and news reporters hoping for a scoop used to hang around all over the place, trying to get pieces of info that would completely humiliate our family. All famous people go through it, right?"

"Yes, it is fairly common for people with a lot of high standing to go through that," Nekozawa confirmed, sounding a little thoughtful. "I'm half Russian, you know... my mother was a famous artist from Moscow, and my father owns a chain of business estates on top of working for the Ootori family. I can understand all too well the hardships."

"Truthfully," Saelind weakly laughed, closing her eye before she stood up and felt her way over to the door. "Even if we never make it out of here and we die or something... I don't think there's a single person back home who would miss me. In fact, they'd probably celebrate the fact that I vanished... God only knows that my mother doesn't give a damn unless she needs something."

"What about your father?" Nekozawa asked, making the girl snort. "Wouldn't he care?"

"Not at all," Saelind muttered, fiercely rubbing her eye and drying her face off. "He can't even remember what day my birthday is, let alone take enough of a break from whatever the hell he's doing to care. Truthfully, I dislike my father even more than my mother: the duchess actually has a bit of pride, regardless of how crappy of a person she is... my father has absolutely none. Now, since I've told you all of this, let's try to figure out a way to..."

Before she could finish speaking, the sound of the lock clicking made her jump.

"Ehhhh?" Nekozawa drawled, making the girl shiver in total disbelief; the sound of him getting up met her ears, and when he swept past her, she felt the air brushing against her cheek. Then, the sound of the knob turning met her ears... and the door opened. Saelind winced and shielded her eye when she spotted the moonlight filtering in through the hole in the ceiling. "Well, apparently, the ghost must not hate you after all."

"Why did it unlock?" the girl whispered, glancing at him with an enormous teal eye. "More importantly, HOW did it unlock?! There's nothing in here!"

"Maybe it was Karin's spirit," Nekozawa suggested, lifting his incredibly light blue eyes to the ceiling. "She was happy to be a mother... she loved her daughter with everything she had in her, right? Maybe she felt sorry for you after hearing your story... it would make anyone sad."

"Shut up," Saelind mumbled, averting her eye with a scowl. "Just because I told you that doesn't mean you know anything about me!"

"True... but that still doesn't explain how we're supposed to get out of here," Nekozawa drawled, glancing down at his kitty puppet; she rolled her eye when it clapped its little paws and nodded. In the dark, she'd almost forgotten about how weird this guy was. "Maybe we could move the desk?"

Before they could respond, the dark shape Saelind had seen earlier flitted just out of her range of vision: the girl shrieked and clamped down on Umehito's arm so tightly that he yelped, but before anything else could happen, a square piece of the wall groaned loudly and fell onto the floor with a cloud of dust. Both teens stared at the opening with open mouths, not processing what had just happened. Then, almost reluctantly, Saelind jerked away from the boy beside her and headed over to the hole.

She blinked when she saw a set of stairs.

"No way," Saelind muttered, furrowing her brows and bolting up the stairs. "Are you kidding me?!"

"What is it?!" Nekozawa happily called, making the girl feel as though he were enjoying this. "Is it another skeleton?! Or maybe a floating specter?!"

"No, you creepy beanpole, it's the way out!" she snapped, voice coming back almost muffled. "Come on, let's get out of here already! I wanna go back to the school, change out of this godawful dress, and go home already. This has been... too much for me."

Nekozawa wordlessly glided along the floor, but just as he was leaving, he felt two small hands on his shoulders and halted.

A cold breath of wind whispered past his ears and he felt calmer somehow... almost safe in an odd way.

"We'll come back," Nekozawa stated calmly, staring ahead with stoic blue-grey eyes. "Don't worry."

Before he could blink, the pressure on his shoulders vanished and he felt warm again. Slowly turning his head, he gave a crooked smile to the darkness before heading up the stairs after Saelind. The two of them then made their way back to Ouran Academy... only to find that it had been locked up, with no way for them to get back inside. For a long moment, the two of them merely stood in front of the gates, staring at it in dismay.

"Uhhh..." Saelind droned, gazing at the gates before glancing down at herself. "This isn't good."

"You're right," Umehito stated simply, nodding in synchronicity with his Beelzenef puppet. "I've been locked out, as well... and since I didn't take my medication, when the sun comes up, I very well may die of radiation poisoning."

"W-what?!" the dark-haired girl squeaked, whipping around to stare at him in shock. "What the fuck did you just say?!"

"I'm allergic to sunlight," Umehito explained, giving her a creepy smile. "More accurately, I'm allergic to ultraviolet rays."

"W-wait a second, shouldn't you, like, have a key or something?!" Saelind hissed, staring at him with a large eye. "Ya know, to open the gates?!"

"No," Nekozawa chuckled, looking at the sky and gauging the time. "I don't... but it's not life threatening for me. The gates open at seven, so there'll be plenty of time for me to get inside... I'll just have to stay awake all night so I don't miss it, that's all."

"That's not healthy," the girl deadpanned, giving him a serious frown. "You seriously plan on going to your classes on no sleep? At all?"

"Of course," the boy chuckled, glancing down at the kitty puppet and grinning when he made it nod. "We do it all the time."

Saelind was flabbergasted on how this kid had survived high school as long as he had.

"Follow me," she finally grunted, turning around and walking down the street, "and don't say a word."

Umehito Nekozawa did as he was instructed and followed her.

Thus, the two of them were off... gliding down the sidewalk like a couple of wraiths. They moved through the city until they made it to Saelind's apartment complex... but when they arrived, the girl strode up the stairs to her home and unlocked the door. Then she turned around and waved at Nekozawa, motioning for him to go inside.

"Ehhh?" he drawled, looking around in a slow manner when he did as he was instructed. "Where are we?"

"My apartment," Saelind grumbled, shutting the door and pulling the hood off. "I'm sorry, but I don't a futon... or even a bed of any variety. Nor do I have a blanket... but, it's sheltered from the sun in the mornings because of the building in front of my window. You're welcome to stay in here."

"Eh?!" he asked, glancing at her in shock. "What? But... that's improper! A guy and a girl can't... unless... right?!"

"Dumb ass," the Russian girl spat, making him cringe away from her. "Who said anything about me sleeping in here with you?! I'm going next door!"

"Eh?" Nekozawa asked, blinking when the exhausted-looking girl swept out the door and slammed it shut. "_Nani... ga?_"

Saelind, meanwhile, stomped down she stairs and swept over to the building Haruhi lived in. Then, without even bothering to knock, she kicked the door open and sleepily walked across the floor. However, instead of looking alarmed or offended, Ranka merely gave her a pleasantly startled expression.

"Oh, Saelind-chan!" he squealed, looking her up and down before covering his mouth. "You... you're into crossdressing, too?!"

"Can it, Tranny," the girl grumbled, walking down the hall and ignoring how he giggled in response. "I'm going to sleep in Haruhi's room tonight. _Oyasumi._"

Thus, without any politeness whatsoever, she threw the brunette's door open and ignored how she jumped up from her desk.

"S-Saelind?!" Haruhi stammered, staring at her with round amber eyes. "U-um... what are you doing?!"

"Using your floor for the night," the girl hissed, looking for all the world like a snake. "You even think of coming near me tonight, I will bite you. Never speak of this situation again... god only knows it's your stupid club's fault this is happening, anyway."

So saying, she shrugged off the cloak, padded off into the corner, and sank down onto the floor.

Then she curled up into a little ball and plopped her head on the floor.

Within seconds, she was asleep, leaving a baffled Haruhi Fujioka standing in the middle of the room with no clue as to what the hell was going on.


	24. Chapter 23: Nothing Gold Can Stay

**Author's note: **Sorry it took so long to get this chapter uploaded! Been busy with work and COLLEGE! YAAAY! Got accepted into Juliard, so I'm gonna have my hands full, but don't worry! I will NEVER abandon my stories, so look forward to updates. This also took a while since I wanted to complete the new story cover that Saelind herself asked me to draw a while back. :D Finally finished it, Sae! Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter Twenty-Three: Nothing Gold Can Stay<strong>

_It was dark… ever so dark._

_Saelind slowly opened her eyes and blinked as the dream began to play in front of her… she saw two dark-haired infants sitting together in a monstrous playroom with adoring adults all over the place. One of the twins was being hugged and tickled by the adults, while the other merely sat at the opposite end of the room and watched the them play with her thumb in her mouth. She watched not her parents, but her brother with happy aquamarine eyes._

_Soon after… the image faded, and she saw a snippet of her and Saelavan at the age of four: the black-haired boy was sitting at an enormous birthday table inside the grand ball room with over a hundred smiling faces sitting around him. Saelind was standing in the farthest corner with her hands folded neatly, like always; then Saelavan blew out the candles, and everyone cheered. When their mother and father handed the boy his presents, he shot a look at Saelind._

_The Duchess quickly tried to divert his attention away from the girl, but it didn't work._

_"Why didn't Lindy get any presents, Mommy?" the little boy asked in Russian, looking confused. _"It's her birthday, too."_  
><em>

_The girl's eyes lit up when several people blinked in confusion and looked at her with skeptical expressions._

_"Don't worry, Munchkin, Saelind doesn't need them," the woman giggled, putting a slice of cake on his plate. "Extras don't play with toys."_

_The festive party continued, but nobody even noticed when a sad little girl left the room._

_Saelind instantly closed her eye and the darkness returned._

_Ever since that day, the people around her had practically forgotten she was alive aside from her brother. _

_Then, everything had changed the day before their sixth birthday._

_Saelind had been playing on the park swings by herself: she had been wearing a checkered dress and a pair of dusty black shoes, since her parents always bought her clothes from a thrift store. Then, out of the blue, Saelavan had walked up to her and tapped her from behind._

_"Hey, Lindy!" Saelavan exclaimed with a smile. "L_et's play together!"_  
><em>

_She'd looked at him over her shoulder in confusion from the swing set._

_"No," the little girl murmured, turning back around with irritable teal eyes. "You go play with Mommy and Daddy. I don't want to play with you."_

_"But I want to play with you, Lindy," Saelavan laughed, moving forward and staring at her with an eager smile. "Please?"_

_"Go away!" Saelind shrieked, getting off the swing and pushing him down; the little boy's eyes widened and he looked startled when his sister started crying and glared down at him in anger. "I hate you the most, Vanny! You have everything! You have Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and all the maids and butlers! You have everything, so go away and leave me alone forever!"_

_"I-I have everything?" the little boy stammered, looking stunned._

_"Yes! Because you steal everything from me!" the little girl wailed, sinking down to her knees and burying her face in her hands. "You stole all the candy, all the ice cream, all the cake, all the new toys, all the pretty clothes, and all the happy birthdays! You stole parades with Mommy, cooking food with Daddy, baking cookies with grandma, and saying goodbye to grandpa at his funeral! You have everything, and I... I never have anything! It's your fault Mommy and Daddy don't love me! I hate you!"_

_Saelind finally trailed off and broke down into tears, but she was startled when her brother crawled over and pulled her into a hug; she felt him shaking and heard him crying, as well, but she didn't know why he was acting so sad when he had everything she'd always wanted._

_"I'm sorry..." he hiccuped, letting out a sob and clutching the back of her dress with his little fists. "I'm s-sorry..."_

_"Saelavan?" Saelind whimpered, anger fading into guilt when he burst into tears. "W-why are you crying?"  
><em>

_"I'm sorry for stealing everything!" her brother wailed, sobbing against her shoulder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't hate me! Please!"  
><em>

_For a long moment, Saelind had felt stunned... but then, little face screwing up, she had burst into tears as well. __Ever since that day, Saelavan had given her half of everything he received from their parents, and if he couldn't split it somehow then he wouldn't accept the gift. Each day after that meltdown was spent with him giving her half of everything he had, and because of that she had actually come to love her twin brother because of his kindness._

_He was the only one who'd truly cared._

"- aelind?" _a distant voice murmured. _"Hey, are you crying?"

_Before she could process the shift in her memories, she saw her mother glaring down at her with cold fury: the walls of the hospital room were all around her.._

_"You're worse than useless," she hissed like a snake, rending her heart in two. "I never should have given birth to you."_

With a violent jolt, Saelind's eye snapped open wide and she gasped, frantically looking around with a palpitating heart.

Her breathing was ragged and uneven as she took in her surroundings. After a few moments of trying to calm herself down and figure out where she was, the Russian girl slowly sat up and touched her forehead: her long hair was plastered to her cheeks and neck due to the cold sweat that had enveloped her entire body, and for some reason, she was wearing a very unflattering black dress that had been crumpled up with wrinkles during the night.

"Where am I…?" Saelind whispered hoarsely, feverishly rubbing her eye. "Why am I not in my bedroom...?"

"Hurry and _get_ _up!"_ a familiar voice panted, making her jump in surprise. "Hurry! Get these clothes on! I couldn't find your uniform!"

Before Saelind could process what was happening, someone threw a pair of skinny jeans and a familiar dark-green hoodie at her face. Then, just as she lifted her arms to peel them off, she was dragged to her feet and forcibly shoved into a bathroom. After a moment of flailing around, the girl jerked the clothes off her head and blinked at them in confusion. They were hers, but how they'd gotten here, she couldn't say.

It was weird.

"What's going on?" Saelind called, grumpily trying to wake her groggy mind up. "Hello?"

"Just get dressed and hurry up!" the familiar voice called back. "We need to get going!"

For a moment, the Russian girl merely closed her tired eye and tried to think past her sleepiness.

Then, against her better judgement, she slipped the black dress off, undid her tangled hair, and changed into the outfit she'd been given. Once she was dressed, she folded the clothes up and headed out of the washroom. Not even a foot in front of her was Haruhi, standing against the wall with folded arms. Saelind halted and blinked in glazed confusion when she realized where she was: Haruhi Fujioka's apartment.

Yet another mystery.

"What the hell happened to me yesterday?" she wondered, blinking rapidly before shaking her head. "Did I sleepwalk over here?"

"Yes, you did, with quite little fanfare I should add," Haruhi dryly retorted, looking just as groggy as she felt. "Are you ready? If so, let's get going."

"Where?" Saelind stupidly asked, still half asleep. "What's going on?"

"School, Saelind: Ouran Academy," Haruhi muttered, yawning and ignoring how Saelind's eye popped open wide. "You literally walked in here on your own last night, remember? I have to admit, when I walked over to your place and saw Nekozawa sleeping in your bathtub, I almost had a heart attack."

Saelind merely stared at her with her mouth hanging open, unable to process half of what she'd just said.

"Um... what?" she asked, barely able to keep her eye open. "Sorry, could you repeat all that in stupid people language? Who was sleeping in what bathtub?"

"Ugh, never mind: I'll explain when you're not drunk off your own exhaustion!" the girl mumbled, grabbing her arm and dragging her down the hall towards the entrance of the apartment. The girl stumbled a bit, but she did take the opportunity to glance around as she was pulled down the stairs. Ranka was waiting in front of the gate, tapping his watch and nervously looking around. When he spotted them, however, he squealed in delight.

"Oh, Lord, Saelind-chan looks so cute today!" the tranny exclaimed, wriggling all over. "Green is your spirit color!"

"Shut up, creeper," Saelind grumbled, letting out another yawn as she and Haruhi walked past. "I don't even think you know how weird you sound when you say crap like that. And anyway, I always look the same since I only have one outfit."

"Oh, be nice!" Ranka scolded, waving at the two of them as they started jogging down the street. "And have a good day!"

Sadly, days at Ouran were never good for Saelind, and today proved to be no different. She literally conked out after second period since she was grumpy, sleepy, and irritable for reasons unknown to her. However, for once, shockingly, Haruhi was actually feeling a little grumpy herself: sitting in the classroom, her amber eyes felt heavy and weighed down since the teacher's normally intriguing monotone was actually lulling her to sleep. Last night had been one of the rare sleepless ones that came out of nowhere, since she'd been unaccustomed to having someone sleep in her room.

Plus, she was utterly exhausted since Saelind had started talking in her sleep immediately after she was out, and it lasted until four in the morning.

Translation?

She was dead tired.

After a long while, her head finally thumped down on her desk and she conked out, snoring softly.

She remained that way until the bell tower signaled the end of the school day: then the mischievous twins got up and casually slinked over.

"Haruhi?" Kaoru asked, gently poking her shoulder with confused eyes. "Weird... is she asleep?"

"She _never_ sleeps in class," Hikaru muttered, glancing at his brother with raised eyebrows before he poked her as well. "Come on, Haruhi, wake up! Class is over!"

"Mnmnnnm…" Haruhi mumbled into her sleeve before slowly sitting up and rubbing her eyes; there was a bit of drool on her chin when she blinked at them. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" the twins asked simultaneously, instantly flashing all around her and inspecting her like a pair of doctors. "Sleeping in class isn't normal for you."

After tiredly looking around, Haruhi was surprised to notice that most of the students were already packed up and heading out the door.

"I'm fine, I just kinda had a long night," she replied with a yawn, rubbing her mouth with an embarrassed flush before scratching at her hair with glazed brown eyes. "Saelind-chan kind of slept over last night, since Nekozawa-senpai got locked out of the school and spent the night sleeping in her bathroom. I don't exactly know what happened between them, but she was an angry wreck, even in her sleep. The aftereffects were exhausting."

The twins blinked in synchronicity and stared at each other with blank expressions.

"Weird," Hikaru sighed, rubbing his chin with a pondering expression. "I would have thought the two of them would have hit it off."

"Eh?" Haruhi deadpanned, staring at him with a 'wtf' expression. "You can't be serious."

"No, really!" Hikaru sighed, giving a pointed shrug before he folded his arms. "They have similar preferences when it comes to social interacting, they both act dark and creepy sometimes, and they both like to do stuff that doesn't involve talking to people."

"Speaking of Nekozawa, we haven't actually seen him at all today," Kaoru murmured, frowning slightly before he glanced at Saelind; he blinked and nudged his brother when he realized that the black-haired girl was snoring on her desk just like Haruhi had been only a few seconds ago. "You said she was so angry that she stayed that way even in her sleep, right? It makes me wonder how bad their blind date went yesterday."

"Well, we'll find out during the interviews," Hikaru sighed, patting his brother's arm. "Mine went splendidly, and I hope for nothing less than the best review!"

"Same here!" Kaoru laughed, hooking his arm through his brother's and grinning at Haruhi. "We'll be given reviews by the people we escorted last night!"

Before Haruhi could even manage to let out a sigh of dismay, Ami walked into the room and smiled secretively at Haruhi before walking over to Saelind. The skinnier brunette scowled and folded her arms when Ami tapped the Russian girl's arm. The black-haired girl started and flew into an upright position, but when Ami giggled and started talking to her about something Haruhi couldn't hear, her glazed eyes slid to the latter's face.

Haruhi sighed when she realized that Saelind could barely understand what was being said to her.

Truthfully, she looked more than a little zombified, and her eyes were cloudy with irritation and sleep-deprivation.

"We should probably get to the Host Club now," Haruhi finally sighed, hefting her bags. "Things are probably gonna be busy, what with the interviews."

"Exactly!" the twins chorused, grinning like foxes. "Let's go, Haruhi!"

So saying, the identical duo happily dragged the sleepy brunette out the door by her arms.

Not long after, Ami helped Saelind carry her things down the hall to the music room.

Sadly, the Russian girl was still having trouble processing things, and even when the girls started pouring in and requested to sit with her, she felt as though her mind were in a fog. Questions were asked, but she answered them almost robotically, without even processing what they were about. She was asked about her family, which made her glare, but aside from that things went rather smoothly. Soon, she would be able to go home and sleep on her tatami mats... it never sounded so wonderful. Eventually, the girls began to leave, and the people who'd won the dating raffle began to file in.

She barely heard the interviews or the clapping cheers as the dates were described by the candidates who'd been escorted.

She DID, however, feel a little surprised by the fact that Kyouya had convinced some hapless girl that he was Mr. Prince Charming by taking her to a french diner and treating her to the most expensive night out ever in all the history of idiots. However, once Tamaki's date had described her time out, Saelind knew she was home free: she was just about to pack her things and run for freedom when a familiar hooded figure plopped down in front of her and flipped a book open, without a care in the world. Saelind's mind snapped wide awake and her eyes locked on his face.

It all made sense in that moment: she always got extremely sleepy after having a bad experience.

It was her body's way of telling her that she wanted to forget something had ever happened.

When she narrowed her eyes and hissed like a snake, revealing the glint of her fangs, Tamaki let out a squeal and jumped behind the couch.

From there, he started eyeing the hooded figure and the Russian girl with large blue eyes.

"What are you doing here, Nekozawa-Senpai?!" Haruhi asked, glancing at him in surprise just as she walked past with a tray of empty teacups. "I thought you were absent."

"Indeed," he murmured, chuckling before his kitty puppet turned the page of his book and clapped. "I was."

"Then why are you here?" Saelind demanded, giving him a flinty-eyed expression; everyone glanced at her when the boy looked up, and even Kyouya's eyes lifted from what they were doing to focus on the scene in front of him. "After what you put me through last night, the last thing I need is a reminder of how much I hate you."

Everyone experienced mixed reactions to her statement: all of the host club girls gasped, the twins whistled with intrigued eyes, Haruhi dropped the tray in horror, Tamaki went rigid, Honey looked around in confusion, Kyouya furrowed his brows, Ami blinked and covered her mouth, and Mori... well, oddly enough, the only reaction he seemed to have was that his eyes narrowed a little.

Nekozawa, however, merely chuckled in amusement.

"And here I thought we had a splendid time," he stated in an almost teasing manner, making the girl's shoulders stiffen in outrage. "It was a lot of fun, wasn't it?"

If looks could kill, Umehito would have been burned to a crisp.

"What did you do to him?" the twins simultaneously asked, walking over and circling the hooded boy like a vulture. "Come on, tell us! It sounds interesting!"

"I took him to an abandoned house in the middle of the woods," Nekozawa droned, making everyone's eyes widen, "and then... we got _locked_ in a _cellar_ by a _ghost!"_

Everyone blinked and did a double take before glancing at Saelind... just in time to see her shiver violently and let out a grumbling noise of dismay.

"I don't know what happened last night: I can't explain it," she grunted, ignoring the eyes on her. "All I really know is that I never want to go through something like that ever again."

"As you wish," Nekozawa murmured, flipping the page once again and silently going back to reading. "As for my review, I found it to be very insightful and amusing, in several different ways. All in all, I had a rather wonderful time."

"Well, that's a good thing!" Tamaki cheered, throwing his arms up and looking around. "Right? Right?"

Nobody answered him, and a cold wind blew through the music room.

Embarrassed, the blonde slowly shrank down and scuttled off into the corner.

Then, everyone resumed their own activities and Saelind put her head down, unable to fall asleep.

_Awkward, awkward, awkward…_ she chanted silently, eyebrow twitching when Umehito calmly turned another page of his book. When she thought back to the incident in the house and recalled the moment when his lips had collided with hers, her face flamed bright red and her muscles jumped before she could control herself. _ Why did I have to think about that?! Stop it, brain! It wasn't a kiss!_

Feeling her ears burning, the girl sat up and rubbed her cheeks, feeling out of sorts.

_"_Whoa," Ami suddenly murmured, walking over with concerned eyes. "Saelind-chan, your face is bright red... like, for real. Do you have a fever?"

"N-no! I'm perfectly fine!" the girl squeaked, burying her face in her arms. "It's nothing at all, okay?!"

"Well, if you say so," Ami murmured, folding her hands as the concerned expression was replaced by a blank one. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Saelind yapped, voice muffled by her sleeve. "I get it."

_Idiot! I must be getting too comfortable here if I'm becoming so careless!_ she mentally scolded herself, scowling at her own stupidity. Naturally, she'd never let anyone see her doing something as embarrassing as blushing. Minutes began to pass, so she stared blankly at the wall, silently hoping she could speed up the paint-peeling process by burning holes in it with her eyes. She wanted to go home, but the Host Club was performing an overnight stay to deal with some decoration issues.

Turning her gaze away from the wall after a moment, she studied Nekozawa and saw that he was still reading.

Then her thoughts turned to his physical appearance and she slowly began to wonder what she knew about yin and yang.

She knew that they were opposite, equal, and balanced—opposite as in female and male, dark and light, and so on. She also knew that because they formed together they were equal, and one couldn't exist without the other. Meaning, the yin couldn't exist without the yang, and the yang cannot exist without the yin. Dropping her thoughts, she looked at the wall—but was dismayed to see that not even a single paint chip had begun to peel.

The wall looked the same as it had a few hours earlier: nothing had changed.

"Peel, damn it!" she squeaked in aggravation at the wall.

Everyone looked up at her with curious expressions, which made her face flame bright red; they were probably wondering whether or not she was going insane.

Saelind rolled her eyes and shook her head dismissively in a "forget it" sort of way before she put her head down again.

However, it wasn't very long before she couldn't take dealing with the boredom anymore.

"Jesus Christ!" she cried angrily, throwing her tiny hands up into the air. "I'm too fucking bored!"

"Watch your mouth," Kyouya stated bluntly from across the room, throwing a quick glare at her.

"Yes, Mother…" Saelind retorted sarcastically, knowing that the response would irritate him.

"You need to stop acting like a child," he responded nonchalantly, not bothering to look up from his record book again.

"Yes, Mother…" she snapped again, face smoothing out in amusement.

"Stop it," Kyouya ordered, closing his book in annoyance. "Stop acting foolish."

By this point, everyone was staring at the two of them with slack jaws.

"Yes, mo—" Saelind tried to respond.

"Say it again and you'll regret it," he interrupted.

"Mo—"

"Shh!"

"Mo—"

"Don't!"

"Mo—"

"Sael-chaaaaan!" Honey happily squealed, tearing across the room with gleeful eyes. "You're acting funny today! Do you want to play a word game with me?!"

"ACK!" Saelind squeaked, eyes becoming huge when he lunged at her with outstretched hands. She was out of the chair before anyone could register the movement, so Honey went skidding across the floor on his belly. "Don't just jump at me like that! Jesus!"

Before anything else could be said, however, a beautiful sound split the air and everyone paused. It was a muffled voice, singing something in a foreign language. Saelind's eye went blank and she froze where she was standing... then, lowering her hand to her pocket, she felt around and blinked when she felt a lump. Her eyes widened and she instantly pulled her cellphone out, staring at it with a baffled expression.

Then she read the caller ID and her face turned so white that it became almost see-through.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Tamaki asked, peering at her with confused blue eyes. "Someone's calling you."

Saelind couldn't respond.

Her eye was fixed on the caller ID.

After a moment, she closed her eyes, flipped it open... and snapped it shut yet again.

Everyone blinked in surprise when she pocketed the phone and turned to sit down, but the phone began to ring yet again, making her jump.

When she jerked it back out of her pocket, the same caller ID flashed across the screen, and her lip curled in outrage.

"Stupid woman," she hissed, turning the phone off and slamming it down on the table. "Stop calling me."

"Saelind-chan?" Haruhi asked, looking up from where she was cleaning the mess she'd made. "Are you all right?"

"Why is my phone in my pocket?" she demanded, making Haruhi blink. "I never take my phone with me anywhere. How did it get here?"

"Oh, uh... I put it there since I thought you might need it," the brunette explained, making her eyebrow twitch. "It's always safer to have one on you, just in case."

"Whatever," Saelind muttered, tilting her head back with a grim expression. "Don't ever touch my things without permission."

With that, she let her head smack the table and closed her eyes, not wanting to think about anything.

For her, life just seemed to be getting worse and worse.

Especially since she knew now that her mother was trying to get a hold of her.

_Trust is Betrayal in disguise,_ she muttered, staring at the table with the sting of repressed tears behind her eye. _I won't let you fool me again. I swear it._


End file.
